[mythtv-users] MythTV User Status ??

[Eric Sharkey]

On Mon, Jan 12, 2015 at 9:56 AM, jim <jim_32766 at hotmail.com> wrote:
> Thanks (or is that dank je?), Hika. The less /etc/passwd worked as
> advertised and I now can see the user mythtv, plus can see that user has
> a home directory and shell via "/home/mythtv:/bin/sh".There is no
> password for this user to login though, correct?

I don't run Mythbuntu, but most Linux distributions are set up to use
shadow passwords.  If the /etc/passwd file has an "x" in the password
field (the one after the first colon, following the username), then
the password is defined in the file /etc/shadow, not /etc/passwd.
Usually the permissions on the shadow file are more restricted, such
that normal users cannot read it.  If you see an x there, you would
need to check the shadow file to know if the account has a password or
not.

And accounts without passwords can still log in, they just need to use
an authentication mechanism other than a password (e.g. ssh keys or
something like that).

Eric