Problem with /etc/passwd and /etc/passwd- files
 

hi all..
we know that /etc/passwd - is a replica of /etc/passwd file and acts as a backup in any damage done to /etc/passwd file..
i have observed a strange thing in RHEL 5.4....
for example... if /etc/passwd has 100 accounts.. then /etc/passwd - is having only 99 accounts....
when i add 101 useraccount with "useradd" then /etc/passwd has 101 accounts and /etc/passwd is having the 100th account of /etc/passwd - ..
when i delete /etc/passwd and recover it with /etc/passwd - from runlevel 1 the lastly created user is not having his account after recovery.. what is the solution?
this is same case even with /etc/shadow and /etc/shadow -
thanks in advance...

Hi,

The dash files (passwd-, shadow-, gshadow- and group-) are backups of the previous version, not the current version. I.e.: If you add a user (or make some other change) the original (without the changes) is saved as a dash file.

Hope this helps.

Make copies of both the file itself and its backup file.