shadow/man/passwd.5.xml
2009-06-06 11:21:15 +00:00

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<refentry id='passwd.5'>
<!-- $Id$ -->
<refmeta>
<refentrytitle>passwd</refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
<refmiscinfo class="sectdesc">File Formats and Conversions</refmiscinfo>
</refmeta>
<refnamediv id='name'>
<refname>passwd</refname>
<refpurpose>the password file</refpurpose>
</refnamediv>
<refsect1 id='description'>
<title>DESCRIPTION</title>
<para>
<filename>/etc/passwd</filename> contains one line for each
user account, with seven fields delimited by colons
(<quote>:</quote>).
These fields are:
</para>
<itemizedlist mark='bullet'>
<listitem>
<para>login name</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>optional encrypted password</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>numerical user ID</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>numerical group ID</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>user name or comment field</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>user home directory</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>optional user command interpreter</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
The encrypted password field may be blank, in which case no password
is required to authenticate as the specified login name. However,
some applications which read the <filename>/etc/passwd</filename> file
may decide not to permit <emphasis>any</emphasis> access at all if the
<emphasis>password</emphasis> field is blank. If the
<emphasis>password</emphasis> field is a lower-case <quote>x</quote>,
then the encrypted password is actually stored in the
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>shadow</refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> file instead; there
<emphasis>must</emphasis> be a corresponding line in the
<filename>/etc/shadow</filename> file, or else the user account is invalid.
If the <emphasis>password</emphasis> field is any other string, then
it will be treated as an encrypted password, as specified by
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>crypt</refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
</para>
<para>
The comment field is used by various system utilities, such as
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>finger</refentrytitle>
<manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
</para>
<para>
The home directory field provides the name of the initial working
directory. The <command>login</command> program uses this information
to set the value of the <envar>$HOME</envar> environmental variable.
</para>
<para>
The command interpreter field provides the name of the user's command
language interpreter, or the name of the initial program to execute.
The <command>login</command> program uses this information to set the
value of the <envar>$SHELL</envar> environmental variable. If this
field is empty, it defaults to the value <filename>/bin/sh</filename>.
</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1 id='files'>
<title>FILES</title>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><filename>/etc/passwd</filename></term>
<listitem>
<para>User account information.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><filename>/etc/shadow</filename></term>
<listitem>
<para>optional encrypted password file</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><filename>/etc/passwd-</filename></term>
<listitem>
<para>Backup file for /etc/passwd.</para>
<para>
Note that this file is used by the tools of the shadow
toolsuite, but not by all user and password management tools.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</refsect1>
<refsect1 id='see_also'>
<title>SEE ALSO</title>
<para>
<citerefentry>
<refentrytitle>crypt</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum>
</citerefentry>,
<citerefentry>
<refentrytitle>getent</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
</citerefentry>,
<citerefentry>
<refentrytitle>getpwnam</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum>
</citerefentry>,
<citerefentry>
<refentrytitle>login</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
</citerefentry>,
<citerefentry>
<refentrytitle>passwd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
</citerefentry>,
<citerefentry>
<refentrytitle>pwck</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
</citerefentry>,
<citerefentry>
<refentrytitle>pwconv</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
</citerefentry>,
<citerefentry>
<refentrytitle>pwunconv</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
</citerefentry>,
<citerefentry>
<refentrytitle>shadow</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
</citerefentry>,
<citerefentry>
<refentrytitle>su</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
</citerefentry>,
<citerefentry>
<refentrytitle>sulogin</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
</citerefentry>.
</para>
</refsect1>
</refentry>