A weird problem with adding users

[Scott <pope@ossuary.net>]

     One day awhile back my copy of suse running pyre started
acting up.  When I add a user, the owner gets set to their
UID rather than their username, and when you try to change it,
the system says the user doesn't exist.  Nevermind the fact
the entries for them are in /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow.  At
one point I had figured out a workaround, but now I'm totally
blanking on what that was.
     Does anyone have any idea what's causing this.  If all
else fails I know a reboot will make the system suddenly see
the user, though not fixing the problem longterm and costing
me 69 days of uptime.

Scott
-- 
I love you more than anything in this world.
I don't expect that will last.
 -Elvis Costello