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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 1.2 2003/06/17 04:29:30 dillon Exp $
41 .Nd modify a user's password
55 utility changes the user's local, Kerberos, or NIS password.
56 If the user is not the super-user,
58 first prompts for the current password and will not continue unless the correct
61 When entering the new password, the characters entered do not echo, in order to
62 avoid the password being seen by a passer-by.
65 utility prompts for the new password twice in order to detect typing errors.
67 The new password should be at least six characters long (which
68 may be overridden using the
71 setting for a user's login class) and not purely alphabetic.
72 Its total length must be less than
74 (currently 128 characters).
76 The new password should contain a mixture of upper and lower case
77 characters (which may be overridden using the
80 setting for a user's login class). Allowing lower case passwords may
81 be useful where the password file will be used in situations where only
82 lower case passwords are permissible, such as when using Samba to
83 authenticate Windows clients. In all other situations, numbers, upper
84 case letters and meta characters are encouraged.
86 Once the password has been verified,
88 communicates the new password information to
89 the Kerberos authenticating host.
92 This option causes the password to be updated only in the local
93 password file, and not with the Kerberos database.
94 When changing only the local password,
96 is used to update the password databases.
99 When changing local or NIS password, the next password change date
102 capability in the user's login class.
104 To change another user's Kerberos password, one must first
109 The super-user is not required to provide a user's current password
110 if only the local password is modified.
114 utility has built-in support for NIS.
115 If a user exists in the NIS password
116 database but does not exist locally,
118 automatically switches into
122 user does not exist in either the local password database of the
127 When changing an NIS password, unprivileged users are required to provide
128 their old password for authentication (the
130 daemon requires the original password before
131 it will allow any changes to the NIS password maps).
132 This restriction applies even to the
133 super-user, with one important exception: the password authentication is
134 bypassed for the super-user on the NIS master server.
136 the super-user on the NIS master server can make unrestricted changes to
137 anyone's NIS password.
138 The super-user on NIS client systems and NIS slave
139 servers still needs to provide a password before the update will be processed.
141 The following additional options are supported for use with NIS:
148 checking heuristics and forces
151 When NIS is enabled, the
153 flag can be used to force
158 This flag can be used to change the entry
159 for a local user when an NIS user exists with the same login name.
160 For example, you will sometimes find entries for system
166 in both the NIS password maps and the local user database.
170 will try to change the NIS password.
173 flag can be used to change the local password instead.
175 Specify what domain to use when changing an NIS password.
178 assumes that the system default domain should be used.
180 primarily for use by the superuser on the NIS master server: a single
181 NIS server can support multiple domains.
182 It is also possible that the
183 domainname on the NIS master may not be set (it is not necessary for
184 an NIS server to also be a client) in which case the
186 command needs to be told what domain to operate on.
188 Specify the name of an NIS server.
189 This option, in conjunction
192 option, can be used to change an NIS password on a non-local NIS
194 When a domain is specified with the
198 is unable to determine the name of the NIS master server (possibly because
199 the local domainname isn't set), the name of the NIS master is assumed to
202 This can be overridden with the
205 The specified hostname need not be the name of an NIS master: the
206 name of the NIS master for a given map can be determined by querying any
207 NIS server (master or slave) in a domain, so specifying the name of a
208 slave server will work equally well.
211 Do not automatically override the password authentication checks for the
212 super-user on the NIS master server; assume 'old' mode instead.
214 flag is of limited practical use but is useful for testing.
217 .Bl -tag -width /etc/master.passwd -compact
218 .It Pa /etc/master.passwd
221 A Version 7 format password file
222 .It Pa /etc/passwd.XXXXXX
223 Temporary copy of the password file
224 .It Pa /etc/login.conf
225 Login class capabilities database
226 .It Pa /etc/auth.conf
227 configure authentication services
242 .%T "UNIX password security"
247 command is really only a link to