[musl] Inconsistent getent group output with empty groups

[musl] Inconsistent getent group output with empty groups

[Iker Pedrosa]

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Dear Mailing List,
I've encountered an inconsistency in the output of getent group on Alpine
Linux when a group has no members.

*Issue:*
When a group doesn't contain any members, getent group omits the trailing
colon in the output, resulting in only three fields instead of the expected
four. This behavior differs from systems using glibc, where getent group
consistently includes the trailing colon, even for empty groups.

*Examples:*
Alpine Linux (musl-utils):
    $ getent group test
    test:!:1000  <- Missing the last colon

    $ getent group root
    root:x:0:root <- Colon present when members exist

glibc-based System:
    $ getent group test
    test:!:1000: <- Colon present even with no members

*Impact:*
This inconsistency causes issues when parsing the output of getent group
with tools like Python's jc library
<https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/>, which expect a consistent
number of fields.

*Environment:*
    Operating System: Alpine Linux
    getent provider: musl-utils

*Possible Solution:*
Ensure getent group consistently includes the trailing colon in its output,
even for groups without members, to align with the behavior observed in
glibc-based systems.

Please let me know if you require any further information or clarification.

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.

-- 

Iker Pedrosa

Senior Software Engineer, Identity Management team

Red Hat <https://www.redhat.com>

Txapela (gorria) buruan eta ibili munduan

(Red) hat on his head and walk the world

Basque proverb
<https://www.redhat.com>

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Re: [musl] Inconsistent getent group output with empty groups

[Leah Neukirchen]

Iker Pedrosa <ipedrosa@redhat.com> writes:

> Dear Mailing List,
> I've encountered an inconsistency in the output of getent group on Alpine
> Linux when a group has no members.

This code is unrelated to the musl project itself, you should file a bug at
https://gitlab.alpinelinux.org/alpine/aports/-/issues instead.

cu,
-- 
Leah Neukirchen  <leah@vuxu.org>  https://leahneukirchen.org/

Re: [musl] Inconsistent getent group output with empty groups

[Iker Pedrosa]

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Hi Leah,

Thank you for the information. I opened
https://gitlab.alpinelinux.org/alpine/aports/-/issues/16633 to track it.

On Thu, Nov 21, 2024 at 11:59 AM Leah Neukirchen <leah@vuxu.org> wrote:

> Iker Pedrosa <ipedrosa@redhat.com> writes:
>
> > Dear Mailing List,
> > I've encountered an inconsistency in the output of getent group on Alpine
> > Linux when a group has no members.
>
> This code is unrelated to the musl project itself, you should file a bug at
> https://gitlab.alpinelinux.org/alpine/aports/-/issues instead.
>
> cu,
> --
> Leah Neukirchen  <leah@vuxu.org>  https://leahneukirchen.org/
>
>

-- 

Iker Pedrosa

Senior Software Engineer, Identity Management team

Red Hat <https://www.redhat.com>

Txapela (gorria) buruan eta ibili munduan

(Red) hat on his head and walk the world

Basque proverb
<https://www.redhat.com>

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