Etc

The Etc module provides access to information typically stored in files in the /etc directory on Unix systems.

The information accessible consists of the information found in the /etc/passwd and /etc/group files, plus information about the system's temporary directory (/tmp) and configuration directory (/etc).

The Etc module provides a more reliable way to access information about the logged in user than environment variables such as +$USER+.

Example:

require 'etc'

login = Etc.getlogin
info = Etc.getpwnam(login)
username = info.gecos.split(/,/).first
puts "Hello #{username}, I see your login name is #{login}"

Note that the methods provided by this module are not always secure. It should be used for informational pu