From lowell@heart-of-gold.ironbridgenetworks.com  Thu Nov 19 10:55:32 1998
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Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1998 13:54:57 -0500 (EST)
From: Lowell Gilbert <lowell@world.std.com>
Reply-To: Lowell Gilbert <lowell@world.std.com>
To: FreeBSD-gnats-submit@freebsd.org
Subject: doc suggestion re:passwords
X-Send-Pr-Version: 3.2

>Number:         8765
>Category:       docs
>Synopsis:       some suggested text for describing passwords
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       non-critical
>Priority:       low
>Responsible:    dwhite
>State:          closed
>Quarter:        
>Keywords:       
>Date-Required:  
>Class:          change-request
>Submitter-Id:   current-users
>Arrival-Date:   Thu Nov 19 11:00:00 PST 1998
>Closed-Date:    Sun Jan 13 15:30:38 PST 2002
>Last-Modified:  Sun Jan 13 15:31:16 PST 2002
>Originator:     Lowell Gilbert
>Release:        FreeBSD 2.2.7-STABLE i386
>Organization:
>Environment:

	

>Description:

Newcomers to FreeBSD are often confused about how passwords work.  I
wrote up the enclosed text in response to a freebsd-questions request
for how to install shadow passwords.  I think it belongs in the
handbook as opposed to the FAQ, but it does answer some questions that
*are* asked frequently.  

	

>How-To-Repeat:

	

>Fix:
	
	

Passwords

1. How do passwords work?

FreeBSD uses a "shadow password" system.  There is an /etc/passwd
file, as UNIX systems have always had, but it doesn't contain the
actual passwords.  Those are kept in /etc/master.passwd (and in a
hashed database /etc/spwd.db).

2. So how do I change my password?

With the 'passwd' command.

3. Editing password files

Password files have more in them than just passwords.  As an ordinary
user, the 'chpass' command should be all you need as far as changing
your entry, but for system administration purposes you need a lot
more.

Do *not* just edit the password files themselves.  The easiest way to
make your modifications is to use the 'vipw' command, which will bring
up the password file in an editor, and automatically build the
databases for you when you're done editing.  If you *do* edit the
master.passwd file directly, make sure to run the pwd_mkdb program on
it afterwards.

4. Other topics

[Not covered here, and probably shouldn't be:  NIS, Kerberos, login.conf...]

5. More Reading

To administrate a system, you really ought to read the following
manual pages:

passwd(1) : actually, *everyone* ought to read this
chpass(1) : lets users change some other information as well as the
	    password 
vipw(8) : edit the password file
passwd(5) : format of the password file.  Includes information on how
	    to deal with NIS passwords (if you don't know what those
	    are, you don't need to).
login.conf(5) : login class capability database
pwd_mkdb(8) : generate the password databases

>Release-Note:
>Audit-Trail:
Responsible-Changed-From-To: freebsd-doc->dwhite 
Responsible-Changed-By: hoek 
Responsible-Changed-When: Sun May 30 18:34:21 PDT 1999 
Responsible-Changed-Why:  

Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 15:41:46 -0700 (PDT) 
From: Doug White <dwhite@resnet.uoregon.edu> 
To: "Howard F. Hu" <foxfair@FreeBSD.org> 
Cc: cvs-committers@FreeBSD.org, bugs@FreeBSD.org 
Subject: Re: cvs commit: doc/FAQ admin.sgml 
Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.03.9905111538560.6252-100000@resnet.uoregon.edu> 
X-Mailer: Pine 

On Sat, 8 May 1999, Howard F. Hu wrote: 

> foxfair     1999/05/08 09:03:13 PDT 
[...] 
Please assign FAQ-related PRs to me.  Thanks. 

Doug White 
Internet:  dwhite@resnet.uoregon.edu    | FreeBSD: The Power to Serve 
http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~dwhite    | www.freebsd.org 


I tend to agree with the submitter that this seems to belong in the 
handbook, but I'll let you have a look at it.  Besides, FAQ maintainer 
handbook-maintainer ...  what's the difference?  ;-) 

State-Changed-From-To: open->closed 
State-Changed-By: dwhite 
State-Changed-When: Sun Jan 13 15:30:38 PST 2002 
State-Changed-Why:  
Covered by other documentation, and just plain stale. phk would be proud. 

http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=8765 
>Unformatted:
