Re: Migrating to larger numbers

Tim Smith (tzs@tzs.net)
Sun, 30 May 1999 10:44:38 -0700 (PDT)

On Sat, 29 May 1999, Nicholas Tufar wrote:
> > uid_t, gid_t: 32 bits minimum, 32 bits probably OK.
>
> Some ISPs and mail servers may have more than 65536 users on one system.
> I would propose to make uid_t and gid_t 64 bits.

Uhm...32 bits will cover 4 billion users. Still, considering the trend
toward ISP mergers, and the trend toward everyone getting online, it might
be a good idea to allow everyone on the planet to have a unique uid, and
so going past 32 bits could be a good idea.

How many problems would be introduced by making them both 128 bits and
using the UUID algorithm to generate uids and gids?

--Tim Smith

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