[Adduser-devel] Bug#508740: adduser: confusing message regarding format of group names

[Marc Haber]

On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 08:48:50AM +1100, Vincent McIntyre wrote:
> addgroup: Please enter a username matching the regular expression configured
> via the NAME_REGEX configuration variable.  Use the `--force-badname'
> option to relax this check or reconfigure NAME_REGEX.

NAME_REGEX is mentioned in the man page for adduser.conf, which is
referenced in the adduser man page.

I can offer to include NAME_REGEX into the default configuration file,
if that helps for people who cannot find the man page. Would that help?

> What this error message means, in translation, is
> "I don't like underscores in group names".
> However it takes quite a bit of looking at it to "get" this meaning.
> Is there some way to make this meaning clearer to the reader?

Not easily. I think there was a reason to avoid printing the actual
regex in the error message, but I don't remember.

Greetings
Marc

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marc Haber         | "I don't trust Computers. They | Mailadresse im Header
Mannheim, Germany  |  lose things."    Winona Ryder | Fon: *49 621 31958061
Nordisch by Nature |  How to make an American Quilt | Fax: *49 621 31958062