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Bug 796698

Summary:	root entry in user list
Product:	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6	Reporter:	o.h.weiergraeber
Component:	gdm	Assignee:	Ray Strode [halfline] <rstrode>
Status:	CLOSED WONTFIX	QA Contact:	Desktop QE <desktop-qa-list>
Severity:	medium	Docs Contact:
Priority:	unspecified
Version:	6.2	CC:	plarsen, tpelka
Target Milestone:	rc
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	x86_64
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	If docs needed, set a value
Doc Text:		Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:	2017-12-06 10:19:08 UTC	Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description o.h.weiergraeber 2012-02-23 14:13:43 UTC

Description of problem:

The list of known users displayed by gdm suddently contains an entry for root, without any obvious reason. No explicit changes were made to the gdm configuration.

The root entry was observed upon
1. changing to a virtual console
2. restarting X (init 3 > init 5)
3. switching back to X (ALT-F7) led to gdm appearing for a second, followed by the system going to sleep (apparently this is BUG 747029 https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=747029).

After wake-up, gdm displayed a root entry with a comment "currently logged in" - which is correct, since root was still logged to a virtual console - but the root entry has persisted after logging out and ever since.
I have checked a lot of files and resources but was unable to detect any inadvertent change to the config. In particular, /etc/gdm/gdm.schemas still lists root as excluded by default.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
2.30.4-32

How reproducible:
I don't have a second system available to reproduce.
  
Actual results:
see above

Expected results:
The root entry should be hidden in gdm unless included explicitly.

Additional info:

Comment 1 o.h.weiergraeber 2012-02-25 08:13:42 UTC

After hours of research I have found the cause of the problem: it seems GDM does not honor /etc/gdm/custom.conf the way I expected it to.
Specifically, I put an Exclude=xyz statement in custom.conf to hide a specific user from the list. This has caused user xyz to disappear, as expected, but the root user appeared instead. Root, together with other system users, is excluded by default in gdm.schemas. Obviously, exclude statements in custom.conf overwrite the exclude list in gdm.schemas, instead of adding to them. Other system users (daemon,adm,lp etc.) are still hidden, presumably since they lack valid login shells. This makes the problem *appear* to be specific to root.

So for now the solution is to add root to the exclude list in custom.conf.

I still think this is a bug since the user is supposed to edit custom.conf instead of gdm.schemas, and should not need to repeat statements from that file.

Comment 2 RHEL Program Management 2012-07-10 08:06:28 UTC

This request was not resolved in time for the current release.
Red Hat invites you to ask your support representative to
propose this request, if still desired, for consideration in
the next release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Comment 3 RHEL Program Management 2012-07-10 23:16:13 UTC

This request was erroneously removed from consideration in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.4, which is currently under development.  This request will be evaluated for inclusion in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.4.

Comment 4 RHEL Program Management 2012-12-14 08:07:50 UTC

This request was not resolved in time for the current release.
Red Hat invites you to ask your support representative to
propose this request, if still desired, for consideration in
the next release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Comment 6 Jan Kurik 2017-12-06 10:19:08 UTC

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 is in the Production 3 Phase. During the Production 3 Phase, Critical impact Security Advisories (RHSAs) and selected Urgent Priority Bug Fix Advisories (RHBAs) may be released as they become available.

The official life cycle policy can be reviewed here:

http://redhat.com/rhel/lifecycle

This issue does not meet the inclusion criteria for the Production 3 Phase and will be marked as CLOSED/WONTFIX. If this remains a critical requirement, please contact Red Hat Customer Support to request a re-evaluation of the issue, citing a clear business justification. Note that a strong business justification will be required for re-evaluation. Red Hat Customer Support can be contacted via the Red Hat Customer Portal at the following URL:

https://access.redhat.com/