Is there a standard module library function to access /etc/passwd or /etc/group

[Robin Cull]

Hi all,

I'm writing a script that needs to do lookups on the UNIX passwd and
groups file on textual usernames/group names and return numeric
UID/GID. Something that gives access to the C standard libarary
functions get[pw|group]ent(), for example. I've Googled around on
various logical search terms and looked through pydoc and the module
reference but haven't found anything up to this point. I'd have
thought that the os module would provide this sort of access. I did
find something called UserDBM but this appears not to be a standard
module.

Before I go away and write a couple of functions to do this myself,
can anyone tell me if there is a module that provides this sort of
interface? I'd really like it to be a standard module as the script
will have to run at a lot of different sites and I'm hoping there are
no external dependencies past an RPM installation of Python. If not,
I'll do my own local functions in the script.

Thanks all.

Cheers,

Robin

[Heather Coppersmith]

On 30 Jul 2003 05:16:43 -0700,
ro********@pace.co.uk (Robin Cull) wrote:

... Something that gives access to the C standard libarary
functions get[pw|group]ent(), for example ...

Right out of the table of contents of Python's Library Reference:

8.2 pwd -- The password database
8.3 grp -- The group database

When all else fails, read the manual.... ;-)

Regards,
Heather

--
Heather Coppersmith
That's not right; that's not even wrong. -- Wolfgang Pauli

[Gerhard Häring]

Robin Cull wrote:

Hi all,

I'm writing a script that needs to do lookups on the UNIX passwd and
groups file [...]

import pwd, grp

Next question? :)

-- Gerhard

[Robin Cull]

Heather Coppersmith <[e-mail]> wrote in message news:<m2************@host200-null.null.bellsouth.net>...

On 30 Jul 2003 05:16:43 -0700,
ro********@pace.co.uk (Robin Cull) wrote:

... Something that gives access to the C standard libarary
functions get[pw|group]ent(), for example ...
Right out of the table of contents of Python's Library Reference:

8.2 pwd -- The password database
8.3 grp -- The group database

Those'll be the ones! :)

When all else fails, read the manual.... ;-)

I assure you I did, in fact it baffles me that I missed "pwd" in the
global module index when I was scanning for "passwd". Then I went off
on a complete tangent and started looking through "os" and "posix" for
some reason. A case of "can't see the wood for the trees" I think!

I'll look harder next time ;)

Cheers,

Robin

[Steven Taschuk]

Quoth Andrew Dalke:
[...]

When you're stuck because you don't know which module something
might be in (eg, I was just looking for XMLRPC server code in
xmlrpclib - wrong place!), try the full index at
http://python.org/doc/current/lib/genindex.html

And don't forget the full-text searching capabilities at pydoc.org.

--
Steven Taschuk "The world will end if you get this wrong."
st******@telusplanet.net -- "Typesetting Mathematics -- User's Guide",
Brian Kernighan and Lorrinda Cherry

[Andrew Dalke]

Steven Taschuk:

And don't forget the full-text searching capabilities at pydoc.org.

Can't forgot something I didn't know about ;)

Hmmm, my search for "xmlrpc server" fails but "xml-rpc server" is
successful.

Any idea when it'll be updated for 2.3?

Andrew
da***@dalkescientific.com