[Kroupware] Re: Kroupware Digest, Vol 3, Issue 28

[Christopher Lewis]

On Monday 23 June 2003 02:08 am, you wrote:
> Mike Hurn wrote:
> > For auto-creation UID's I suggest using the three letters of the users
> > givenName, the first three letters of there last name and a number.
> > In my case "michur01"
>
> Why not have multiple algorithms for UID generation?  Different
> admins/organizations have different schemes for uid generation.  I
> myself prefer 'first letter, firstname + first 7 letters lastname', then
> trying different permutations of the person's name if that is taken.
>
> > As Christoper has pointed out using the users email address becomes
> > unusable when it is also needed as a logon ID.
>
> Your logon ID is part of the posixAccount schema, isn't it?  It's been a
> while but I believe the 'uid' attribute.  That attribute can be set to
> whatever you want, regardless of what the mail attributes are.  mailbox
> doesn't have to equal the 'uid' attribute.
>
> Without looking at the kolab code, I think the only thing is that kolab
> should not assume the user's 'cn' attribute is their mailbox. Or use the
> 'uid' attribute from the posixAccount schema, that may cause trouble in
> the future. Eg system account that are not kolab enabled, or kolab
> accounts that are not meant to be system accounts.
>
> Christopher's 'big boss' example is a case for aliases.  Someone with
> email addresses in multiple domains, who just needs one account for
> checking email needs 1 mailbox and multiple email aliases.  And
> therefore, only has to remember one account, the mailbox account.

Regarding the UID, that is exactly what I'm trying to get.  Kolab no longer 
has separate UID and e-mail fields.  It now uses the e-mail address as the 
UID.  If what you're saying is true, then I can assign the UID to be whatever 
I want and my system logins will use that, while kolab uses the full e-mail 
address for delivering mail and logging into the IMAP server.  However, 
Martin is basically saying that the full e-mail address is the UID now, and 
there are no plans to change this.

The way I see it, any program that is going to be used worldwide and have a 
large installed user base must be customizable, plain and simple.  Emphasis 
on the "simple."  As you mentioned, Kervin, different admins and different 
organizations will have different policies and different requirements.  For 
me, just call it a goal that I want to consolidate my system administration 
duties.  I just want 1 place where I can enter my user information, and it 
just works.  As it stands right now, this is not the case.  E-mail has a 
separate login scheme from everything else (can't be changed, and not 
compatible with Kolab's login scheme), while everything else can at least use 
the same 4 letter login ID (still maintained separately, however I have the 
ability to change that).  I believe that if Kroupware/Kolab wants to be a 
success, it will have to address these issues.  

OK, I'll shut up now.
-- 
Christopher Lewis
Systems Administrator
Maxim Lighting International
chris at maximlighting.com
(626) 964-7500 x268