[Gllug] getting into the linux work scene

[Tethys]

>> Try and avoid the "it's only a trivial change, I don't need a backup"
>> mentality. Even a one character change can go wrong if you accidentally
>> insert a control character somewhere, and that backup could save your
>
>Been there, changed the first character in /etc/passwd, cursed

Many years ago, I was working for a large company, with passwords
distributed via NIS for some 1000 or so users. One day, suddenly
virtually no one was able to log in. It wasn't absolute, though. About
10% of users were unaffected. It turned out that one of the admins[1]
had accidentally put a blank line in the middle of the password file,
and rebuilt the NIS maps from that. Everyone with a username below the
blank line was screwed...

Tet

[1] No, not me -- I was working as a coder at the time, <smug>although it
    was me that found the problem, and told them how to fix it...</smug>

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