users in groups. Specifically, for every pair of user/group where the user shall be a member of a group a
file named
<literal><replaceable>username</replaceable>:<replaceable>groupname</replaceable>.membership</literal>
- should be created, i.e. the textual UNIX user name, followed by a colon, followed by the textual UNIX
- group name, suffixed by <literal>.membership</literal>. The contents of these files are currently not
- read, and the files should be created empty. The mere existence of these files is enough to affect a
- user/group membership. If a program provides user and/or group record files in the searched directories,
- it should always also create such files, both for primary and auxiliary group memberships.</para>
+ must be created, i.e. the textual UNIX user name, followed by a colon, followed by the textual UNIX group
+ name, suffixed by <literal>.membership</literal>. The contents of these files are currently not read,
+ however it is recommended to create them containing an empty JSON object
+ (i.e. <literal>{}</literal>). The mere existence of these files is enough to affect a user/group
+ membership. If a program provides user and/or group record files in the searched directories, it must
+ always also create such files, both for primary and auxiliary group memberships.</para>
<para>Note that static user/group records generally do not override conflicting records in
<filename>/etc/passwd</filename> or <filename>/etc/group</filename> or other account databases. In fact,