Must a Samba PDC use encrypted passwords?

[Paul Keck]

You guys are great!  This will help a lot.

Since I got help once, let me push the envelope with more questions.  :-)  

After the period of getting everyone to log in and get their password
updated is done and we switch to encrypted passwords, /etc/passwd and
smbpasswd will start to diverge, right?  Meaning, if they change one the
other will NOT change.  If that is true, is there a good way around this?
Something I can set up a cron job to nightly pipe /etc/passwd through and
re-create smbpasswd?  Somehow leave "update encrypted" on while "encrypt
passwords" is running (not possible)?  Am I dreaming?

I was perusing the source code just now (not being a decent c programmer, I
am even more impressed with samba!).  Unless I miss my guess, in the
password update scheme you take the password they type in (unencrypted) and
try to authenticate them to /etc/passwd.  If this works, then make an
NT-style encrypted password out of the unencrpyted password in hand and
stick it in smbpasswd.  If this is accurate, then my dream of a unix-style
to NT-style password converter will probably go unfulfilled, unless it
incorporates a cracker.

Someone tell me I'm wrong!  I'll pay good pizza for something I can
cron/pipe my /etc/passwd through.  :-)

-- 
Paul Keck    pkeck at coe.uga.edu            http://www.coe.uga.edu/~pkeck
Univ. of Georgia- College of Education    ftp://ftp.coe.uga.edu/users/pkeck
Office of Information Technology (OIT)	  mailto:pkeck at ediacara.org
    --Opinions mine, not OIT's.--         Go fighting anomalocaridids!!!