Unix password sync: Any hints?

[Andrew Rittner]

Hi! I know this is about the most asked question on these lists. I've 
been searching the archives looking for an answer, but all I can find 
is the same question over and over...

I'm trying to get the Unix Password Sync option to work on my 
server. I'm running RH 6.0, with MD5 and shadowed passwords 
enabled, and Samba 2.0.5a (the RPM version).  When I try to 
change passwords using smbpasswd (as a user, not as root) I get 
the infamous "password invalid" response. I've made sure of several 
things: 

My password chat is as ambiguous as I could make it:

*password* %n\n *password* %n\n *all*

I've also tried it with \r instead of \n. The response is about the 
same. The passwords I'm using are valid to Linux. I know it's picky, 
but the passwords I'm using work when I do passwd manually. 

I'd really like to get this to work. I've ordered a new server to replace 
my current one, as a file/print/e-mail server for about 80 people. 
Currently we use Novell. I've got the bosses convinced that Linux 
with Samba would be better (for our purposes), but if the users 
can't change their own passwords (they won't have shell access), I 
can't really use Linux/Samba in this situation. If the password sync 
in Samba doesn't work at all, could someone say so? And if there 
are any ideas of alternate ways to accomplish the same thing, 
could someone toss out some ideas perhaps? 

Here's the section of the logfile I get a level 100. The username has 
been changed to "foo", and the new password to "h at mh0ck". The 
problem seems to lie in the empty response buffer for response 3. 

[1999/08/27 10:23:38, 3] smbd/ipc.c:api_reply(3420)
  Doing SamOEMChangePassword
[1999/08/27 10:23:38, 3] 
smbd/ipc.c:api_SamOEMChangePassword(1776)
  api_SamOEMChangePassword: Change password for <foo>
[1999/08/27 10:23:38, 10] 
passdb/passdb.c:iterate_getsmbpwnam(142)
  search by name: foo
[1999/08/27 10:23:38, 10] passdb/smbpass.c:startsmbfilepwent(45)
  startsmbfilepwent: opening file /etc/smbpasswd
[1999/08/27 10:23:38, 5] passdb/smbpass.c:getsmbfilepwent(258)
  getsmbfilepwent: returning passwd entry for user test, uid 501
[1999/08/27 10:23:38, 5] passdb/smbpass.c:getsmbfilepwent(258)
  getsmbfilepwent: returning passwd entry for user foo, uid 500
[1999/08/27 10:23:38, 10] 
passdb/passdb.c:iterate_getsmbpwnam(158)
  found by name: foo
[1999/08/27 10:23:38, 7] passdb/smbpass.c:endsmbfilepwent(81)
  endsmbfilepwent: closed password file.
[1999/08/27 10:23:38, 3] smbd/chgpasswd.c:chgpasswd(394)
  Password change for user: foo
[1999/08/27 10:23:38, 10] smbd/chgpasswd.c:findpty(77)
  findpty: Allocated slave pty /dev/pts/2
[1999/08/27 10:23:38, 3] 
smbd/chgpasswd.c:chat_with_program(369)
  Dochild for user foo (uid=0,gid=0)
[1999/08/27 10:23:38, 10] smbd/chgpasswd.c:dochild(189)
  Invoking '/usr/bin/passwd' as password change program.
[1999/08/27 10:23:39, 100] smbd/chgpasswd.c:talktochild(263)
  talktochild: chatbuf=[*password*] responsebuf=[New UNIX 
password: ]
[1999/08/27 10:23:39, 100] smbd/chgpasswd.c:talktochild(276)
  talktochild: sendbuf=[h at mh0ck
  ]
[1999/08/27 10:23:39, 100] smbd/chgpasswd.c:talktochild(263)
  talktochild: chatbuf=[*password*] responsebuf=[
  Retype new UNIX password: ]
[1999/08/27 10:23:39, 100] smbd/chgpasswd.c:talktochild(276)
  talktochild: sendbuf=[h at mh0ck
  ]
[1999/08/27 10:23:43, 10] lib/util_sock.c:read_with_timeout(386)
  read_with_timeout: timeout read. select timed out.
[1999/08/27 10:23:43, 100] smbd/chgpasswd.c:talktochild(263)
  talktochild: chatbuf=[pass*] responsebuf=[]
[1999/08/27 10:23:43, 3] smbd/chgpasswd.c:talktochild(266)
  response 3 incorrect
[1999/08/27 10:23:43, 3] 
smbd/chgpasswd.c:chat_with_program(316)
  Child failed to change password: foo
[1999/08/27 10:23:43, 3] 
smbd/chgpasswd.c:chat_with_program(347)
  The process exited while we were waiting
[1999/08/27 10:23:43, 5] 
smbd/ipc.c:copy_trans_params_and_data(156)
  copy_trans_params_and_data: params[0..2] data[0..0]

Thanks in advance, 

Andy Rittner