Comment 12 for bug 523896

Revision history for this message
Nicolas François (nekral-lists) wrote :

Just a note for any future bug reporter:

It is now clear that it happens that the passwd or shadow (or group, or gshadow) files can be locked.
The "me also messages" are not very useful (and will not make the resolution of this bug, if it is really a bug, any faster).

Please provide instead any information that could indicate why the files were locked:
 * the list of locked files:
    ls /etc/passwd.lock /etc/shadow.lock /etc/group.lock /etc/gshadow.lock

 * check the /var/log/auth.log for any message that could indicate the failure of any other tool (prior to the failure which reported the locked file)

 * any anormal operation on the machine (reset, shutdown while the computer is still running)

 * etc.