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-
- PASSWD(5) UNIX Programmer's Manual PASSWD(5)
-
- NNAAMMEE
- ppaasssswwdd - format of the password file
-
- DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN
- The ppaasssswwdd files are files consisting of newline separated records, one
- per user, containing ten colon (``:'') separated fields. These fields
- are as follows:
-
- name User's login name.
-
- password User's _e_n_c_r_y_p_t_e_d password.
-
- uid User's id.
-
- gid User's login group id.
-
- class User's general classification (unused).
-
- change Password change time.
-
- expire Account expiration time.
-
- gecos General information about the user.
-
- home_dir User's home directory.
-
- shell User's login shell.
-
- The _n_a_m_e field is the login used to access the computer account, and the
- _u_i_d field is the number associated with it. They should both be unique
- across the system (and often across a group of systems) since they con-
- trol file access.
-
- While it is possible to have multiple entries with identical login names
- and/or identical user id's, it is usually a mistake to do so. Routines
- that manipulate these files will often return only one of the multiple
- entries, and that one by random selection.
-
- The login name must never begin with a hyphen (``-''); also, it is
- strongly suggested that neither upper-case characters or dots (``.'') be
- part of the name, as this tends to confuse mailers. No field may contain
- a colon (``:'') as this has been used historically to separate the fields
- in the user database.
-
- The password field is the _e_n_c_r_y_p_t_e_d form of the password. If the
- _p_a_s_s_w_o_r_d field is empty, no password will be required to gain access to
- the machine. This is almost invariably a mistake. Because these files
- contain the encrypted user passwords, they should not be readable by any-
- one without appropriate privileges.
-
- The group field is the group that the user will be placed in upon login.
- Since this system supports multiple groups (see groups(1)) this field
- currently has little special meaning.
-
- The _c_l_a_s_s field is currently unused. In the near future it will be a key
- to a termcap(5) style database of user attributes.
-
- The _c_h_a_n_g_e field is the number in seconds, GMT, from the epoch, until the
- password for the account must be changed. This field may be left empty
- to turn off the password aging feature.
-
-
- The _e_x_p_i_r_e field is the number in seconds, GMT, from the epoch, until the
- account expires. This field may be left empty to turn off the account
- aging feature.
-
- The _g_e_c_o_s field normally contains comma (``,'') separated subfields as
- follows:
-
- name user's full name
- office user's office number
- wphone user's work phone number
- hphone user's home phone number
-
- This information is used by the finger(1) program.
-
- The user's home directory is the full UNIX path name where the user will
- be placed on login.
-
- The shell field is the command interpreter the user prefers. If there is
- nothing in the _s_h_e_l_l field, the Bourne shell (_/_b_i_n_/_s_h) is assumed.
-
- YYPP SSUUPPPPOORRTT
- If YP is active, the ppaasssswwdd file also supports standard YP exclusions and
- inclusions, based on user names and netgroups.
-
- Lines beginning with a ``-'' (minus sign) are entries marked as being ex-
- cluded from any following inclusions, which are marked with a ``+'' (plus
- sign).
-
- If the second character of the line is a ``@'' (at sign), the operation
- involves the user fields of all entries in the netgroup specified by the
- remaining characters of the _n_a_m_e field. Otherwise, the remainder of the
- _n_a_m_e field is assumed to be a specific user name.
-
- The ``+'' token may also be alone in the _n_a_m_e field, which causes all
- users from the _p_a_s_s_w_d_._b_y_n_a_m_e and _p_a_s_s_w_d_._b_y_u_i_d YP maps to be included.
-
- If the entry contains non-empty _u_i_d or _g_i_d fields, the specified numbers
- will override the information retrieved from the YP maps. As well, if the
- _g_e_c_o_s_, _d_i_r or _s_h_e_l_l entries contain text, it will override the informa-
- tion included via YP. On some systems, the _p_a_s_s_w_d field may also be
- overriden.
-
- SSEEEE AALLSSOO
- chpass(1), login(1), passwd(1), getpwent(3), netgroup(5),
- adduser(8), pwd_mkdb(8), vipw(8), yp(8)
-
- _M_a_n_a_g_i_n_g _N_F_S _a_n_d _N_I_S (O'Reilly & Associates)
-
- BBUUGGSS
- User information should (and eventually will) be stored elsewhere.
-
- Placing YP exclusions in the file after any inclusions will have unex-
- pected results.
-
- CCOOMMPPAATTIIBBIILLIITTYY
- The password file format has changed since 4.3BSD. The following awk
- script can be used to convert your old-style password file into a new
- style password file. The additional fields ``class'', ``change'' and
- ``expire'' are added, but are turned off by default. Class is currently
- not implemented, but change and expire are; to set them, use the current
- day in seconds from the epoch + whatever number of seconds of offset you
- want.
-
- BEGIN { FS = ":"}
- { print $1 ":" $2 ":" $3 ":" $4 "::0:0:" $5 ":" $6 ":" $7 }
-
- HHIISSTTOORRYY
- A ppaasssswwdd file format appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.
-
- YP file format first appeared in SunOS.
-
- BSD Experimental July 18, 1995 3
-