nis ignores the order of /etc/nsswitch.conf

[Alain Baeckeroot]

Binary package hint: nscd

With nscd my user name is the one given by the nis, and not
the one give by /etc/passwd _BUT_ it should:

# /etc/nsswitch.conf
 passwd: files nis
 group: files nis

 Stopping nscd is enough to get things right.

> --- System information. ---
> Architecture: amd64
> Kernel: Linux 2.6.24.4mosix
>
> Debian Release: lenny/sid
> 500 gutsy-updates en.archive.ubuntu.com
> 500 gutsy-security security.ubuntu.com
> 500 gutsy en.archive.ubuntu.com
>
> --- Package information. ---
> Depends (Version) | Installed
> =======================-+-===========
> libc6 (>= 2.6-1) | 2.6.1-1ubuntu10
>

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

Is this symptom still reproducible in 8.10 or 9.04?

[Philip Muškovac (yofel)]

Thank you for reporting this bug to Ubuntu. We are closing this bug since Gutsy reached EOL on July 14 2009. Please reopen this bug again if you can reproduce this issue on a supported release, and don't hesitate to submit bug reports in the future. To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to "New".
Please see this document for currently supported Ubuntu releases:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

Thanks again!

[Anders Ossowicki (aowi)]

I highly suspect that I am seeing a similar bug with the same core symptom.

We are not using nscd, but with the same content in /etc/nsswitch.conf and a disappearing nis master, any lookup of local (e.g. root) users hang. Killing the nis client or removing the nis-entry from nsswitch.conf rectifies the problem immediately. This causes long hangs in postfix, root logins and similar cases.

The above is with hardy server, which is supported until 2013.

[Anders Ossowicki (aowi)]

As an additional note: this bug also exist in 9.10.

[Daniel Richard G. (skunk)]

Over a decade later, I am seeing this same behavior on Ubuntu 22.04/jammy with nscd 2.35-0ubuntu3.1:

    # /etc/nsswitch.conf

    passwd: files systemd ldap

I have two users with the same ID (but different usernames, groups, etc.), one in /etc/passwd (files) and one in LDAP. Doing "getent passwd $uid" returns the LDAP entry instead of /etc/passwd, which is clearly not the desired behavior. Stopping nscd causes the query to return the correct entry.

For what it's worth, the "unscd" package provides a drop-in replacement for nscd that works correctly.