Problem with freebsd-update corrupting /etc/passwd

[Paul Schmehl]

--On August 20, 2015 at 6:34:57 PM -0500 Adam Vande More 
<amvandemore at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
>
> On Thu, Aug 20, 2015 at 5:56 PM, Paul Schmehl <pschmehl_lists at tx.rr.com>
> wrote:
>
> --On August 20, 2015 at 3:01:09 PM -0500 Mark Felder <feld at FreeBSD.org>
> wrote:
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Aug 20, 2015, at 14:17, Paul Schmehl wrote:
>
> I just upgraded two servers from 8.4-RELEASE to 10.2-RELEASE.  On both
> servers I had a problem with the /etc/passwd file after upgrade.
>
> This is what I got on both servers:
>
># pwd_mkdb -C /etc/passwd
> pwd_mkdb: corrupted entry
> pwd_mkdb: at line #3
> pwd_mkdb: /etc/passwd: Inappropriate file type or format
>
> On one server a single user "disappeared" (getent passwd username
> returned
> nothing).  On the other server, after I replaced it with
> /etc/masster.passwd, I looped through the /etc/passwd file and getent
> returned each entry, so no users "disappeared".
>
> Not sure what the problem might be, but I thought y'all should know.
>
>
>
> During the upgrade did it ask you to merge some config files (passwd
> included) ? That's the only time it would do so. Corruption on line #3
> makes me think it was trying to make you manually merge the FreeBSD ID /
> timestamp at the top of the file.
>
>
> No.  The only two files I was prompted to edit were /etc/motd and
> /etc/newsyslog.conf.  /etc/password was displayed, but it appeared to be
> fine to me, so I responded yes to the merge.  All it did was add the
> unbound account.
>
> The top three lines of the file (that I renamed .bak because it was
> corrupted) are:
>
># cat /etc/passwd.bak
># $FreeBSD: releng/10.2/etc/master.passwd 256366 2013-10-12 06:08:18Z
># rpaulo $
>#
> root:*:0:0:Charlie &:/root:/bin/csh
>
># pwd_mkdb -C /etc/passwd.bak
> pwd_mkdb: corrupted entry
> pwd_mkdb: at line #3
> pwd_mkdb: /etc/passwd.bak: Inappropriate file type or format
>
> I'd be happy to send the file to someone who could analyze it.
>
>
>
> There is no need to analyze the file as line #3 is clearly incorrect. 
> The question is how it got into that format.  Do you have a pre-upgrade
> backup? 

Yes, I do.  For both servers.  Why?

Paul Schmehl, Retired
As if it wasn't already obvious, my opinions
are my own and not those of my employer.
*******************************************
"It is as useless to argue with those who have
renounced the use of reason as to administer
medication to the dead." Thomas Jefferson
"There are some ideas so wrong that only a very
intelligent person could believe in them." George Orwell