Identifier Dictionary

An identifier dictionary must be provided to CopyTarget if username alias and/or groupname alias are to be translated to UID and GID, respectively. Alias is not allowed in CopyTarget file operations due to the potential mismatches between systems. However, alias is permitted in CopyTarget manifests but are translated to numeric identifiers prior to file operation. In order to support translation, username identifier and/or groupname identifier mappings are required.

It is not required to supply both user identifier and group identifier dictionaries; especially, if alias are only used in one of the two categories. If alias is used in both categories, then it is required to provide CopyTarget with both identifier dictionaries. If one or more alias is specified in the manifest but no corresponding identifier dictionary is provided, CopyTarget will throw an error. If an identifier dictionary is provided but the alias is not found within, an error will also be thrown.

Valid identifier dictionaries include any valid password or group files; these are normally, /etc/passwd, and /etc/group, respectively. Any other formatted files are uninterpretable, and an error will be thrown.