[cobalt-users] [RaQ4i] the horrors of a faulty package

["The A-Team" <propylon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Brand new machine, install package updates.. couple weeks later, install the
new ones.. all of a sudden, things are "broke." Can't login via FTP and the
admserv is all gone to mess. The password no longer works through the
admserv or ftp, but strangly enough, telnet works. Due to the fact admserv
wont authenticate, that means you can't reset the password the "right way",
and when attempting to change the password to admin via command prompt which
returns an 'all tokens updated successfully!' it... well.. doesn't. Using
the i'll-reset-my-stupid-password-with-this-here-paperclip method was futile
and just ticked off the person we had to call to do it 5 times. Something
odd in the messages log file though..

<snip>
Aug  1 05:03:05 www proftpd[29941]: 216.12.211.8
(du-031-0245.claranet.co.uk[212.126.142.245]) - FTP session opened.
Aug  1 05:03:05 www proftpd[29941]: PAM unable to
dlopen(/lib/security/pam_shells.so)
Aug  1 05:03:05 www proftpd[29941]: PAM [dlerror:
/lib/security/pam_shells.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or
directory]
Aug  1 05:03:05 www proftpd[29941]: PAM adding faulty module:
/lib/security/pam_shells.so
Aug  1 05:03:05 www proftpd[29941]: 216.12.211.8
(du-031-0245.claranet.co.uk[212.126.142.245]) - PAM(admin): Module is
unknown.
Aug  1 05:03:06 www proftpd[29941]: 216.12.211.8
(du-031-0245.claranet.co.uk[212.126.142.245]) - FTP session closed.
</snip>

I've covered every single relevant conf file and I haven't been able to find
where it is calling this pam_shells.so from so I can't even begin to figure
out what particular pkg file is the root of all this evil. ALSO, in the
beginning of this escapade the admin password would not change because it
couldn't access the aliases file in /etc/mail.. get this.. somehow it had
been renamed to "maIl"..    THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I SAID! haha..

Okay, so I'd like to know if someone here can help me find WHAT is calling
the pam_shells.so file, and why it wouldn't be where it was supposed to be.
I'd also like to know why command line password changes aren't effective.
I'm guessing that's because it checks against the postgres password because
it's the admin user, but that's just a shot in the bottomless pit. Anyone?

The A-Team
Domain Support Guys
Everyone's Internet
propylon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

'I read your email.'