passwd(1) - NetBSD Manual Pages

PASSWD(1)                   NetBSD Reference Manual                  PASSWD(1)


NAME

     passwd, yppasswd - modify a user's password


SYNOPSIS

     passwd [-l] [-y] [user]
     yppasswd [user]


DESCRIPTION

     passwd changes the user's local or YP password.  First, the user is
     prompted for their current password.  If the current password is correct-
     ly typed, a new password is requested.  The new password must be entered
     twice to avoid typing errors.

     The new password should be at least six characters long and not purely
     alphabetic.  Its total length must be less than _PASSWORD_LEN (currently
     128 characters).  Numbers, upper case letters and meta characters are en-
     couraged.

     -l    This option causes the password to be updated only in the local
           password file.  When changing only the local password, pwd_mkdb(8)
           is used to update the password databases.

     -y    This forces the YP password database entry to be changed, even if
           the user has an entry in the local database.  The rpc.yppasswdd(8)
           daemon should be running on the YP master server.  yppasswd is the
           equivalent of passwd with the -y flag.

     This is the behavior if no flags are specified: If the password is not in
     the YP database, then an attempt is made to use the local password
     database.  The super-user is not required to provide a user's current
     password if only the local password is modified.


FILES

     /etc/master.passwd  The user database
     /etc/passwd         A Version 7 format password file
     /etc/passwd.XXXXXX  Temporary copy of the password file


SEE ALSO

     chpass(1), login(1), passwd(5), pwd_mkdb(8), vipw(8)

     Robert Morris, and Ken Thompson, UNIX password security.


HISTORY

     A passwd command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.

NetBSD 1.4                       June 6, 1993                                1