I have a server Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES release 4 (Nahant Update 4) on which I have two news accounts!!
news:x:9:13:news:/etc/news:
news:x:9:13:news:/var/spool/news:
I don't know who added this extra account but it exists; none of this directories actually exist because rpm's are not installed for news server.
what should be default home directory for user account news? on RHEL 5 I have seen /etc/news and on some RHEL 4 it is /var/spool/news!!
is it ok to remove this account from server?
Can you explain your need in more detail please
I am not sure rpm relation to home directory in this case
To remove the user make sure no application/process/service is running with the user
I want to remove one of those accounts. I hesitate in removing one of those accounts because,
1> the account "news" is created at the time of installation by system, and I am not sure about dependencies of this account.
2> I am not sure about its default home directory, whether it is /etc/news or it is /var/spool/news.
No application/process/service is running on the server with news user..
See RHEL4 - List of Standard Users.
/var/spool/news was standard location in RHEL3. Was the system upgrade from RHEL3 to RHEL4?
Also, you have one user, but two entries.
confusion started there only.. I was wondering account with which home directory I should remove.
@fpmurphy Thanks for the link of standard users. it cleared confusion.