systemd nss-systemd 8 nss-systemd libnss_systemd.so.2 UNIX user and group name resolution for user/group lookup via Varlink libnss_systemd.so.2 nss-systemd is a plug-in module for the GNU Name Service Switch (NSS) functionality of the GNU C Library (glibc), providing UNIX user and group name resolution for services implementing the User/Group Record Lookup API via Varlink, such as the system and service manager systemd1 (for its DynamicUser= feature, see systemd.exec5 for details), systemd-homed.service8, or systemd-machined.service8. This module also ensures that the root and nobody users and groups (i.e. the users/groups with the UIDs/GIDs 0 and 65534) remain resolvable at all times, even if they aren't listed in /etc/passwd or /etc/group, or if these files are missing. This module preferably utilizes systemd-userdbd.service8 for resolving users and groups, but also works without the service running. To activate the NSS module, add systemd to the lines starting with passwd:, group:, shadow: and gshadow: in /etc/nsswitch.conf. It is recommended to place systemd after the files or compat entry of the /etc/nsswitch.conf lines so that /etc/passwd, /etc/group, /etc/shadow and /etc/gshadow based mappings take precedence. Besides user/group records acquired via the aforementioned Varlink IPC interfaces and the synthesized root and nobody accounts, this module also makes user and group accounts available to the system that are defined in static drop-in files in the /etc/userdb/, /run/userdb/, /run/host/userdb/ and /usr/lib/userdb/ directories. This is a simple mechanism to provide static user and group records via JSON drop-in files. Such user records should be defined in the format described by the JSON User Record specification and be placed in one of the aforementioned directories under a file name composed of the user name suffixed with .user, with a world-readable access mode. A symlink named after the user record's UID formatted in decimal and suffixed with .user pointing to the primary record file should be created as well, in order to allow both lookups by username and by UID. Privileged user record data (e.g. hashed UNIX passwords) may optionally be provided as well, in a pair of separate companion files with the .user-privileged suffix. The data should be stored in a regular file named after the user name, suffixed with .user-privileged, and a symlink pointing to it, named after the used numeric UID formatted in decimal with the same suffix. These companion files should not be readable to anyone but root. Example: -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 723 May 10 foobar.user -rw-------. 1 root root 123 May 10 foobar.user-privileged lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 19 May 10 4711.user -> foobar.user lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 19 May 10 4711.user-privileged -> foobar.user-privileged Similarly, group records following the format described in JSON Group Record may be defined, using the file suffixes .group and .group-privileged. The primary user/group record files (i.e. those with the .user and .group suffixes) should not contain the privileged section as described in the specifications. The privileged user/group record files (i.e. those with the .user-privileged and .group-privileged suffixes) should contain this section, exclusively. Note that static user/group records generally do not override conflicting records in /etc/passwd or /etc/group or other account databases. In fact, before dropping in these files a reasonable level of care should be taken to avoid user/group name and UID/GID conflicts. Here is an example /etc/nsswitch.conf file that enables nss-systemd correctly: passwd: compat systemd group: compat [SUCCESS=merge] systemd shadow: compat systemd gshadow: files systemd hosts: mymachines resolve [!UNAVAIL=return] files myhostname dns networks: files protocols: db files services: db files ethers: db files rpc: db files netgroup: nis The container rawhide is spawned using systemd-nspawn1: # systemd-nspawn -M rawhide --boot --network-veth --private-users=pick Spawning container rawhide on /var/lib/machines/rawhide. Selected user namespace base 20119552 and range 65536. ... $ machinectl --max-addresses=3 MACHINE CLASS SERVICE OS VERSION ADDRESSES rawhide container systemd-nspawn fedora 30 169.254.40.164 fe80::94aa:3aff:fe7b:d4b9 $ getent passwd vu-rawhide-0 vu-rawhide-81 vu-rawhide-0:*:20119552:65534:vu-rawhide-0:/:/usr/sbin/nologin vu-rawhide-81:*:20119633:65534:vu-rawhide-81:/:/usr/sbin/nologin $ getent group vg-rawhide-0 vg-rawhide-81 vg-rawhide-0:*:20119552: vg-rawhide-81:*:20119633: $ ps -o user:15,pid,tty,command -e|grep '^vu-rawhide' vu-rawhide-0 692 ? /usr/lib/systemd/systemd vu-rawhide-0 731 ? /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-journald vu-rawhide-192 734 ? /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-networkd vu-rawhide-193 738 ? /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-resolved vu-rawhide-0 742 ? /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-logind vu-rawhide-81 744 ? /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --system --address=systemd: --nofork --nopidfile --systemd-activation --syslog-only vu-rawhide-0 746 ? /usr/sbin/sshd -D ... vu-rawhide-0 752 ? /usr/lib/systemd/systemd --user vu-rawhide-0 753 ? (sd-pam) vu-rawhide-0 1628 ? login -- zbyszek vu-rawhide-1000 1630 ? /usr/lib/systemd/systemd --user vu-rawhide-1000 1631 ? (sd-pam) vu-rawhide-1000 1637 pts/8 -zsh systemd1, systemd.exec5, nss-resolve8, nss-myhostname8, nss-mymachines8, systemd-userdbd.service8, systemd-homed.service8, systemd-machined.service8, nsswitch.conf5, getent1