#986716 installation-guide: Preseeding passwd/root-password-crypted with "!" doesn't work as described

Package:
user-setup
Source:
user-setup
Submitter:
David Mandelberg
Date:
2021-04-11 20:15:03 UTC
Severity:
normal
Tags:
#986716#5
Date:
2021-04-10 03:06:06 UTC
From:
To:
Hi,

https://www.debian.org/releases/bullseye/amd64/apbs04.en.html section
B.4.5 talks about using "!" in passwd/root-password-crypted:

When I tried that, it didn't seem to have any effect. From looking at
what I think is the relevant code[0], it looks like a value of "!" in
passwd/root-password-crypted is explicitly ignored. Is there a
recommended way to lock the root password without setting up another
user? (I want to set up ssh public key authentication for root, and no
other way to authenticate.)

  [0]
https://salsa.debian.org/installer-team/user-setup/-/blob/597e5e6c52d11f0de8e084b274c00c944c632f84/user-setup-ask#L34-43
#986716#10
Date:
2021-04-11 20:09:50 UTC
From:
To:
Hello,

David Mandelberg, le ven. 09 avril 2021 23:06:06 -0400, a ecrit:

It seems to me that it is actually a regression in the user-setup
package. "!" was really meant to mean empty password (thus disabled) and
it seems that the fix for #400766 broke it.

Samuel