Since I've read that 32 bit UIDs were put into kernel 2.4 (and I
assume 2.6) I tried adding accounts with UID > 64K on a RH9 system running
kernel 2.4.20-43.9 and on an SL304 (Fermi) system running kernel
2.4.21-32.0.1.ELsmp.  In both cases I could add accounts with uid up to
2^32-2, and the user's files had the correct uid.  But while uid 2^32 -1
appeared ok in /etc/passwd, the uid of the user's files came out 0, and
high enough uid's didn't get put correctly into /etc/passwd.
    Conclusion: I'll bet it's ok to use UID up to and including 2^32 -2
= 4294967294 with kernel 2.4 and higher, so long as you're not trying
to share files with another system having only 16 bit UIDs.

Steven Yellin

On Wed, 31 Aug 2005, Bob Barton wrote:

> Here at the University of Alberta the Academic Information and
> Communications Technology department have started using UIDs above the
> 64K boundary. Since I need to keep my UIDs synchronized with the ones
> they use and I want to use Scientific Linux do I need to compile a
> custom kernel to get this functionality?
> In other words what is the kernel default maximum UID set to?
>
> --
> Bob Barton <[log in to unmask]>
> Local Area Administrator (780) 492-5160
> 564B Chemical & Materials Engineering
> University of Alberta,
> Edmonton Alberta, T6G 2G6
>