[olug] Unix Tip: KEEP THAT USER OUT!

[Phil Brutsche]

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far way, someone said...

> This is a really poor way to temporarily keep non-root users off of a
> system.  A much better way is to simply (as root) do (as one line):
>
>       echo "*** The System is temporarily unavailable.
>             Please try back later. ***" >> /etc/nologin

Creating /etc/nologin is an all-or-nothing.  It doesn't help you if you
want to temporarily prevent a certain user from loggin in without
affecting anyone else.

The only 2 solutions I can think of are:

1) Fudge with the authentication information in their account (change
   their password, change password expiration time, etc)
2) The script suggested in the original email

-- 

Phil Brutsche
phil at brutsche.us