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32 .\" @(#)passwd.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
33 .\" $FreeBSD: src/usr.bin/passwd/passwd.1,v 1.33 2007/11/07 07:59:38 ru Exp $
34 .\" $DragonFly: src/usr.bin/passwd/passwd.1,v 1.6 2006/11/17 23:23:05 swildner Exp $
42 .Nd modify a user's password
56 utility changes the user's local, Kerberos, or NIS password.
57 If the user is not the super-user,
59 first prompts for the current password and will not continue unless the correct
62 When entering the new password, the characters entered do not echo, in order to
63 avoid the password being seen by a passer-by.
66 utility prompts for the new password twice in order to detect typing errors.
68 The new password should be at least six characters long (which
69 may be overridden using the
72 setting for a user's login class) and not purely alphabetic.
73 Its total length must be less than
75 (currently 128 characters).
77 The new password should contain a mixture of upper and lower case
78 characters (which may be overridden using the
81 setting for a user's login class).
82 Allowing lower case passwords may
83 be useful where the password file will be used in situations where only
84 lower case passwords are permissible, such as when using Samba to
85 authenticate Windows clients.
86 In all other situations, numbers, upper
87 case letters and meta characters are encouraged.
89 Once the password has been verified,
91 communicates the new password information to
92 the Kerberos authenticating host.
94 The following option is available:
95 .Bl -tag -width indent
97 Cause the password to be updated only in the local
98 password file, and not with the Kerberos database.
99 When changing only the local password,
101 is used to update the password databases.
104 When changing local or NIS password, the next password change date
107 capability in the user's login class.
109 To change another user's Kerberos password, one must first
114 The super-user is not required to provide a user's current password
115 if only the local password is modified.
119 utility has built-in support for NIS.
120 If a user exists in the NIS password
121 database but does not exist locally,
123 automatically switches into
127 user does not exist in either the local password database or the
132 When changing an NIS password, unprivileged users are required to provide
133 their old password for authentication (the
135 daemon requires the original password before
136 it will allow any changes to the NIS password maps).
137 This restriction applies even to the
138 super-user, with one important exception: the password authentication is
139 bypassed for the super-user on the NIS master server.
141 the super-user on the NIS master server can make unrestricted changes to
142 anyone's NIS password.
143 The super-user on NIS client systems and NIS slave
144 servers still needs to provide a password before the update will be processed.
146 The following additional options are supported for use with NIS:
147 .Bl -tag -width indent
151 checking heuristics and forces
154 When NIS is enabled, the
156 flag can be used to force
161 This flag can be used to change the entry
162 for a local user when an NIS user exists with the same login name.
163 For example, you will sometimes find entries for system
169 in both the NIS password maps and the local user database.
173 will try to change the NIS password.
176 flag can be used to change the local password instead.
178 Specify what domain to use when changing an NIS password.
181 assumes that the system default domain should be used.
183 primarily for use by the superuser on the NIS master server: a single
184 NIS server can support multiple domains.
185 It is also possible that the
186 domainname on the NIS master may not be set (it is not necessary for
187 an NIS server to also be a client) in which case the
189 command needs to be told what domain to operate on.
191 Specify the name of an NIS server.
192 This option, in conjunction
195 option, can be used to change an NIS password on a non-local NIS
197 When a domain is specified with the
201 is unable to determine the name of the NIS master server (possibly because
202 the local domainname is not set), the name of the NIS master is assumed to
205 This can be overridden with the
208 The specified hostname need not be the name of an NIS master: the
209 name of the NIS master for a given map can be determined by querying any
210 NIS server (master or slave) in a domain, so specifying the name of a
211 slave server will work equally well.
213 Do not automatically override the password authentication checks for the
214 super-user on the NIS master server; assume
218 flag is of limited practical use but is useful for testing.
221 .Bl -tag -width /etc/master.passwd -compact
222 .It Pa /etc/master.passwd
225 a Version 7 format password file
226 .It Pa /etc/passwd.XXXXXX
227 temporary copy of the password file
228 .It Pa /etc/login.conf
229 login class capabilities database
230 .It Pa /etc/auth.conf
231 configure authentication services
247 .%T "UNIX password security"
252 command is really only a link to