2.11BSD#431 - /usr/man/cat5/passwd.0

PASSWD(5)	    UNIX Programmer's Manual		PASSWD(5)


NAME
     passwd - password files

DESCRIPTION
     Passwd 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 encrypted 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 name field is the login used to access the computer
     account, and the uid field is the number associated with it.
     They should both be unique across the system (and often
     across a group of systems) since they control file access.

     While it is possible to have multiple entries with identical
     login names and/or identical user id's, it is usually a mis-
     take 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 con-
     fuse 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 encrypted form of the password.
     If the password 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 anyone 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 class field is currently unused.  In the near future it
     will be a key to a termcap(5) style database of user attri-
     butes.


Printed 11/26/99	   May 8, 1989				1


PASSWD(5)	    UNIX Programmer's Manual		PASSWD(5)


     The change 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 expire 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 gecos 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 the shell field is empty, the Bourne shell (/bin/sh) is
     assumed.

SEE ALSO
     chpass(1), login(1), passwd(1), getpwent(3), mkpasswd(8),
     vipw(8) adduser(8)

BUGS
     User information should (and eventually will) be stored
     elsewhere.


Printed 11/26/99	   May 8, 1989				2