Historically, usernames in EECS / IRIS have been limited to 8 characters in length, to maintain compatibility with legacy Unix systems. Most modern operating systems can now handle longer usernames, and so to better align our services with CalNet and other campus systems, we will begin allowing usernames of up to 20 characters in length. We will be enforcing [the same requirements as CalNet](https://wikihub.berkeley.edu/display/calnet/CalNet+ID+Requirements).
IRIS staff have been testing our services with long usernames to ensure compatibility. As expected, some Unix-based system do still have some issues, and we will be providing documentation on the problems we find for our supported operating system (Mac OS X, Redhat/CentOS Linux, and
Solaris). This article will be updated later with links to that
documentation.
At this time we would like to invite system administrators, programmers, database administrators or others who have systems that utilize IRIS usernames to begin testing their systems. If you would like us to create a test username for you, please contact help@eecs and describe your requirements.
This change will only apply to new accounts created after October 1, 2011 We will not be allowing current account holders to change their username.
As always, please send questions or comments to help@eecs.berkeley.edu