Ensuring Compatibility With +/- Syntax
If +/- is used in /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, and /etc/group files, you need to
modify the nsswitch.conf file to insure compatibility.
- NIS+. To provide +/- semantics with NIS+, change the passwd and groups sources to compat. Then, add a passwd_compat: nisplus entry to the nsswitch.conf file after the passwd or group entry as shown below. - passwd: compat
passwd_compat: nisplus
group: compat
group_compat: nisplus - The above specifies that client routines obtain their network information from /etc files and NIS+ tables as indicated by the +/- entries in the files. 
- NIS. To provide the same syntax as in the Solaris 4.x release, change the passwd and groups sources to compat. - passwd: compat
group: compat - Specifies the /etc files and NIS maps as indicated by the +/- entries in the files. 
 - Note - Users working on a client machine being served by an NIS+ server running in NIS compatibility mode cannot run ypcat on the netgroup table. Doing so gives you results as if the table were empty even if the table has entries.