diff --git a/src/padding.zig b/src/padding.zig
index df8017c..ee9671d 100644
--- a/src/padding.zig
+++ b/src/padding.zig
@@ -1,19 +1,19 @@
 const std = @import("std");
 const assert = std.debug.assert;
 
-// rounds up a u12 to the nearest factor of 4 and returns the difference
-// (padding)
-pub fn roundUpPadding(comptime T: type, comptime nbits: u8, n: T) T {
-    return roundUp(T, nbits, n) - n;
-}
-
-// rounds up a u12 to the nearest factor of 4.
+// rounds up an int to the nearest factor of nbits.
 pub fn roundUp(comptime T: type, comptime nbits: u8, n: T) T {
     comptime assert(nbits < @bitSizeOf(T));
     const factor = comptime (1 << nbits) - 1;
     return ((n + factor) & ~@as(T, factor));
 }
 
+// rounds up an integer to the nearest factor of nbits and returns the
+// difference (padding)
+pub fn roundUpPadding(comptime T: type, comptime nbits: u8, n: T) T {
+    return roundUp(T, nbits, n) - n;
+}
+
 const testing = std.testing;
 
 test "padding" {
diff --git a/src/shell.zig b/src/shell.zig
index a1174fd..e515854 100644
--- a/src/shell.zig
+++ b/src/shell.zig
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ pub const ShellReader = struct {
     }
 
     // get returns a shell at the given index.
-    pub fn get(self: *const ShellReader, idx: u10) []const u8 {
+    pub fn get(self: *const ShellReader, idx: u6) []const u8 {
         const shellIndex = self.sectionIndex[idx];
         const start = shellIndex.offset << 2;
         const end = start + shellIndex.len + 1;
diff --git a/src/user.zig b/src/user.zig
index 57745f7..6d88b7c 100644
--- a/src/user.zig
+++ b/src/user.zig
@@ -17,6 +17,21 @@ pub const PackedUser = packed struct {
     name_is_a_suffix: bool,
     name_len: u5,
     gecos_len: u8,
+    wip_padding: u8, // https://github.com/ziglang/zig/pull/10941
+
+    // blobSize returns the length of the blob storing string values.
+    pub fn blobLength(self: *const PackedUser) usize {
+        var result: usize = self.home_len;
+        if (!self.name_is_a_suffix) {
+            result += self.name_len;
+        }
+        result += self.gecos_len;
+        if (self.shell_here) {
+            result += self.shell_len_or_idx;
+        }
+
+        return result;
+    }
 };
 const PackedUserAlignmentBits = 3;
 
@@ -71,6 +86,7 @@ pub const UserWriter = struct {
             .name_is_a_suffix = std.mem.endsWith(u8, user.home, user.name),
             .name_len = name_len,
             .gecos_len = gecos_len,
+            .wip_padding = 0,
         };
 
         try self.appendTo.appendSlice(std.mem.asBytes(&puser));
@@ -92,37 +108,52 @@ pub const UserWriter = struct {
 };
 
 pub const UserReader = struct {
-    const shellIndexProto = fn (u10) []const u8;
+    const shellIndexProto = fn (u6) []const u8;
 
+    blob: []u8,
     shellIndex: shellIndexProto,
-    blob: []const u8,
 
-    pub const PackedUserEntry = struct {
+    const PackedEntry = struct {
         packed_user: *PackedUser,
         blob: []const u8,
     };
 
-    pub fn init(shellIndex: shellIndexProto, blob: []const u8) UserReader {
+    pub fn init(blob: []u8, shellIndex: shellIndexProto) UserReader {
         return UserReader{
-            .shellIndex = shellIndex,
             .blob = blob,
+            .shellIndex = shellIndex,
         };
     }
 
-    pub const PackedUserIterator = struct {
-        ur: *const UserReader,
-        index: u32 = 0,
+    pub const PackedIterator = struct {
+        ur: *UserReader,
+        index: usize = 0,
 
-        pub fn next(it: *PackedUserIterator) ?PackedUserEntry {
+        pub fn next(it: *PackedIterator) ?PackedEntry {
             if (it.index == it.ur.blob.len) return null;
-            assert(it.index < it.blob.len);
+            assert(it.index < it.ur.blob.len);
 
-            const start = it.index;
-            const end = it.index + it.index + @sizeOf(PackedUser);
-            var pu = std.mem.bytesAsValue(it.ur.blob[start..end]);
-            _ = pu;
+            const endUser = it.index + PackedUserSize;
+            var packedUser = std.mem.bytesAsValue(
+                PackedUser,
+                it.ur.blob[it.index..endUser][0..PackedUserSize],
+            );
+
+            const startBlob = endUser + 1;
+            const endBlob = startBlob + packedUser.blobLength();
+
+            it.index = pad.roundUp(usize, PackedUserAlignmentBits, endBlob + 1);
+
+            return PackedEntry{
+                .packed_user = packedUser,
+                .blob = it.ur.blob[startBlob..endBlob],
+            };
         }
     };
+
+    pub fn packedIterator(self: *UserReader) PackedIterator {
+        return .{ .ur = self };
+    }
 };
 
 const testing = std.testing;
@@ -140,27 +171,46 @@ fn testShellIndex(shell: []const u8) ?u6 {
     return null;
 }
 
+fn testShell(index: u6) []const u8 {
+    return switch (index) {
+        0 => "/bin/bash",
+        1 => "/bin/zsh",
+        else => unreachable,
+    };
+}
+
 test "construct PackedUser blob" {
     var buf = ArrayList(u8).init(testing.allocator);
     defer buf.deinit();
 
     var writer = UserWriter.init(&buf, testShellIndex);
-    const user1 = User{
-        .uid = 1000,
-        .gid = 1000,
-        .name = "vidmantas",
-        .gecos = "Vidmantas Kaminskas",
-        .home = "/home/vidmantas",
-        .shell = "/bin/bash",
+    const users = [_]User{
+        User{
+            .uid = 1000,
+            .gid = 1000,
+            .name = "vidmantas",
+            .gecos = "Vidmantas Kaminskas",
+            .home = "/home/vidmantas",
+            .shell = "/bin/bash",
+        },
+        User{
+            .uid = 1001,
+            .gid = 1001,
+            .name = "svc-foo",
+            .gecos = "Service Account",
+            .home = "/home/service1",
+            .shell = "/usr/bin/nologin",
+        },
     };
-    const user2 = User{
-        .uid = 1001,
-        .gid = 1001,
-        .name = "svc-foo",
-        .gecos = "Service Account",
-        .home = "/home/service1",
-        .shell = "/usr/bin/nologin",
-    };
-    try writer.appendUser(user1);
-    try writer.appendUser(user2);
+    for (users) |user| {
+        try writer.appendUser(user);
+    }
+
+    var rd = UserReader.init(buf.items, testShell);
+    var it = rd.packedIterator();
+    var i: u32 = 0;
+    while (it.next()) |entry| : (i += 1) {
+        try testing.expectEqual(users[i].uid, entry.packed_user.uid);
+        try testing.expectEqual(users[i].gid, entry.packed_user.gid);
+    }
 }