xref: /netbsd-src/external/bsd/libbind/dist/doc/irs.conf.man5 (revision 5bbd2a12505d72a8177929a37b5cee489d0a1cfd)
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47.\" Id: irs.conf.man5,v 1.2 2009/01/21 00:12:34 each Exp
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49.Dd November 16, 1997
50.Dt IRS.CONF 5
51.Os BIND 8.1
52.Sh NAME
53.Nm irs.conf
54.Nd Information Retrieval System configuration file
55.Sh SYNOPSIS
56.Nm irs.conf
57.Sh DESCRIPTION
58The
59.Xr irs 3
60functions are a set of routines in the C library which provide access to
61various system maps.
62The maps that irs currently controls are the following: passwd, group,
63services, protocols, hosts, networks and netgroup.
64When a program first calls a function that accesses one of these maps,
65the irs configuration file is read,
66and the source of each map is determined for the life of the process.
67.Pp
68If this file does not exist,
69the irs routines default to using local sources for all information,
70with the exception of the host and networks maps,
71which use the Domain Name System (DNS).
72.Pp
73Each record in the file consists of one line.
74A record consists of a map-name, an access-method and possibly a (comma
75delimited) set of options,
76separated by tabs or spaces.
77Blank lines, and text between a # and a newline are ignored.
78.Pp
79Available maps:
80.Bd -literal -offset indent
81Map name	Information in map
82=========	==================================
83passwd          User authentication information
84group           User group membership information
85services        Network services directory
86protocols       Network protocols directory
87hosts           Network hosts directory
88networks        Network "network names" directory
89netgroup        Network "host groups" directory
90.Ed
91.Pp
92Available access methods:
93.Bd -literal -offset indent
94Access method	Description
95=============	=================================================
96local           Use a local file, usually in /etc
97dns             Use the domain name service (includes hesiod)
98nis             Use the Sun-compatible Network Information Service
99irp		Use the IRP daemon on the localhost.
100.Ed
101.Pp
102Available options:
103.Bd -literal -offset indent
104Option		Description
105========	================================================
106continue        don't stop searching if you can't find something
107merge           don't stop searching if you CAN find something
108.Ed
109.Pp
110The continue option creates
111.Dq "union namespaces"
112whereby subsequent access methods of the same map type can be tried
113if a name cannot be found using earlier access methods.
114This can be quite confusing in the case of host names,
115since the name to address and address to name mappings can be visibly
116asymmetric even though the data used by any given access method is
117entirely consistent.  This behavior is, therefore, not the default.
118.Pp
119The merge option only affects lookups in the groups map.
120If set, subsequent access methods will be tried in order to cause
121local users to appear in NIS (or other remote) groups in addition
122to the local groups.
123.Sh EXAMPLE
124.Bd -literal -offset indent
125# Get password entries from local file, or failing that, NIS
126passwd          local	continue
127passwd		nis
128
129# Build group membership from both local file, and NIS.
130group		local	continue,merge
131group		nis
132
133# Services comes from just the local file.
134services	local
135
136protocols	local
137
138# Hosts comes first from DNS, failing that, the local file
139hosts		dns	continue
140hosts		local
141
142# Networks comes first from the local file, and failing
143# that the, irp daemon
144networks	local	continue
145networks	irp
146
147netgroup        local
148.Ed
149.Sh NOTES
150If a local user needs to be in the local host's
151.Dq wheel
152group but not in every host's
153.Dq wheel
154group, put them in the local host's
155.Pa /etc/group
156.Dq wheel
157entry and set up the
158.Dq groups
159portion of your
160.Pa /etc/irs.conf
161file as:
162.Bd -literal -offset indent
163group   local   continue,merge
164group   nis
165.Ed
166.Pp
167NIS takes a long time to time out.
168Especially for hosts if you use the
169.Fl d
170option to your server's
171.Dq ypserv
172daemon.
173.Pp
174It is important that the
175.Pa irs.conf
176file contain an entry for each map.
177If a map is not mentioned in the
178.Pa irs.conf
179file, all queries to that map will fail.
180.Pp
181The classic NIS mechanism for specifying union namespaces is to add an entry
182to a local map file whose name is ``+''.  In IRS, this is done via ``continue''
183and/or ``merge'' map options.  While this results in a small incompatibility
184when local map files are imported from non-IRS systems to IRS systems, there
185are compensating advantages in security and configurability.
186.Sh FILES
187.Bl -tag -width /etc/irs.confXXXX -compact
188.It Pa /etc/irs.conf
189The file
190.Nm irs.conf
191resides in
192.Pa /etc .
193.El
194.Sh SEE ALSO
195.Xr groups 5 ,
196.Xr hosts 5 ,
197.Xr netgroup 5 ,
198.Xr networks 5 ,
199.Xr passwd 5 ,
200.Xr protocols 5 ,
201.Xr services 5
202