Hi, Thanks for all your help. The problem seemed to be the result of a first empty line in /etc/shells. This was probably the undertaking of one of my co-sysadmins, so be more careful next time (they read the list too). Thanks, Shachar Tal ------------- Taub Computer Center, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology KeyID 0481FEF1 fingerprint = 52 1B 97 6A F2 77 AE C6 64 B6 5A 5E 14 28 8E 7E