Mac OS X Panther in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

Programming with Directory Services

As a programmer, you frequently need to deal with directory information, whether you realize it or not. Your application uses Directory Services each time it looks up a host entry or authenticates a password. The Open Directory architecture unifies what used to be a random collection of flat files in /etc. The good news is that the flat files still work. The other good news is that there is a brave new world just beyond those flat files. So, while all your old Unix code should work with the Open Directory architecture, you should look for new ways to accomplish old tasks, especially if you can continue writing portable code.

To get at directory information, Unix applications typically go through the C library using such functions as gethostent( ) . The C library connects to lookupd , a thin shim that is the doorway to the DirectoryService daemon. The DirectoryService daemon consults the available plug-ins until it finds the one that can answer the directory query.

Working with Passwords

One traditional route to user and password information was through the getpw* family of functions. However, those functions are not ideal for working with systems that support multiple directories (flat files, NetInfo, LDAP, etc.). Also, in the interest of thwarting dictionary attacks against password files, many operating systems have stopped returning encrypted passwords through those APIs. Many Unix and Linux systems simply return an "x" when you invoke a ...