Re: id bug

[Bob Proulx]

Ostap Kutsyy wrote:
> These commands are launched just after the adding my current user 'ostap' to 
> the 'root' & 'cvs' groups. So I have noticed 2 unconjectured things:
> 
> 1. If I add me (user 'ostap') to some groups, it is not very convenient to 
> logout & login every time. As far as I can see, this is a kernel restriction 
> or mistake. But this is still very unconjectured & inconvenient.

This is a kernel process model issue.  There is nothing that coreutils
can do about it.  This is the way Unix has worked for 30 years.

> 2. As to the 'id' utility: is this normal that it shows only 2
> groups for the current process (which is still under the 'ostap'
> user) and 4 groups if the user name is given. Taking into account
> previous note, the behaviour of 'id' becomes clear but still very
> unconjectured.

Yes, but only if they are different.  You need to log in for new group
settings to take effect.  Once you do that they will be the same again
and there won't be any discernible difference, unless you make another
user account modification.

You can use the 'newgrp' command to switch to a new group for that
session.  An 'exec' is typically used becuase otherwise it would stack
a new shell.

  exec newgrp cvs

Because modifying groups is a user account setup and only happens very
infrequently most people simply log out after making changes and then
log back in.  It is mostly a one-time setup action and not a big
enough problem for anyone to need to do anything about.

Bob