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32 .\" @(#)passwd.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
33 .\" $FreeBSD: src/usr.bin/passwd/passwd.1,v 1.18.2.5 2002/06/21 15:28:37 charnier 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.
95 This option causes the password to be updated only in the local
96 password file, and not with the Kerberos database.
97 When changing only the local password,
99 is used to update the password databases.
101 When changing local or NIS password, the next password change date
104 capability in the user's login class.
106 To change another user's Kerberos password, one must first
111 The super-user is not required to provide a user's current password
112 if only the local password is modified.
116 utility has built-in support for NIS.
117 If a user exists in the NIS password
118 database but does not exist locally,
120 automatically switches into
124 user does not exist in either the local password database of the
129 When changing an NIS password, unprivileged users are required to provide
130 their old password for authentication (the
132 daemon requires the original password before
133 it will allow any changes to the NIS password maps).
134 This restriction applies even to the
135 super-user, with one important exception: the password authentication is
136 bypassed for the super-user on the NIS master server.
138 the super-user on the NIS master server can make unrestricted changes to
139 anyone's NIS password.
140 The super-user on NIS client systems and NIS slave
141 servers still needs to provide a password before the update will be processed.
143 The following additional options are supported for use with NIS:
150 checking heuristics and forces
153 When NIS is enabled, the
155 flag can be used to force
160 This flag can be used to change the entry
161 for a local user when an NIS user exists with the same login name.
162 For example, you will sometimes find entries for system
168 in both the NIS password maps and the local user database.
172 will try to change the NIS password.
175 flag can be used to change the local password instead.
177 Specify what domain to use when changing an NIS password.
180 assumes that the system default domain should be used.
182 primarily for use by the superuser on the NIS master server: a single
183 NIS server can support multiple domains.
184 It is also possible that the
185 domainname on the NIS master may not be set (it is not necessary for
186 an NIS server to also be a client) in which case the
188 command needs to be told what domain to operate on.
190 Specify the name of an NIS server.
191 This option, in conjunction
194 option, can be used to change an NIS password on a non-local NIS
196 When a domain is specified with the
200 is unable to determine the name of the NIS master server (possibly because
201 the local domainname isn't set), the name of the NIS master is assumed to
204 This can be overridden with the
207 The specified hostname need not be the name of an NIS master: the
208 name of the NIS master for a given map can be determined by querying any
209 NIS server (master or slave) in a domain, so specifying the name of a
210 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 'old' mode instead.
216 flag is of limited practical use but is useful for testing.
219 .Bl -tag -width /etc/master.passwd -compact
220 .It Pa /etc/master.passwd
223 A Version 7 format password file
224 .It Pa /etc/passwd.XXXXXX
225 Temporary copy of the password file
226 .It Pa /etc/login.conf
227 Login class capabilities database
228 .It Pa /etc/auth.conf
229 configure authentication services
244 .%T "UNIX password security"
249 command is really only a link to