LDP
/
man-pages
mirror of https://github.com/mkerrisk/man-pages
0
1
Fork 0
Code Releases Activity

passwd.5: Various minor fixes and improvements 

Signed-off-by: Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@gmail.com>
This commit is contained in:
Michael Kerrisk 2012-05-04 07:35:15 +12:00
parent e5b0e7ef79
commit 60017fa5bc
1 changed files with 29 additions and 12 deletions
Show Stats Download Patch File Download Diff File Expand all files Collapse all files

41
man5/passwd.5
View File

@ -75,33 +75,44 @@ then use
.BR passwd (1)
to set it.
.PP
Each line of the file describes a single user, and has the following format:
Each line of the file describes a single user,
and contains seven colon-separated fields:
.sp
.RS
account:password:UID:GID:GECOS:directory:shell
name:password:UID:GID:GECOS:directory:shell
.RE
.sp
The field are as follows:
.TP 12
.I account
the name of the user on the system.
.I name
This is the user's login name.
It should not contain capital letters.
.TP
.I password
the encrypted user password, an asterisk (*), or the letter \(aqx\(aq.
This is either the encrypted user password,
an asterisk (*), or the letter \(aqx\(aq.
(See
.BR pwconv (8)
for an explanation of \(aqx\(aq.)
.TP
.I UID
the numeric user ID.
The privileged
.I root
login account (superuser) has the user ID 0.
.TP
.I GID
the numeric primary group ID for this user.
This is the numeric primary group ID for this user.
(Additional groups for the user are defined in the system group file; see
.BR group (5)).
.TP
.I GECOS
This field is optional and used only for informational purposes.
This field (sometimes called the "comment field")
is optional and used only for informational purposes.
Usually, it contains the full username.
Some programs (for example,
.BR finger (1))
display information from this field.
.IP
GECOS stands for "General Electric Comprehensive Operating System",
which was renamed to GCOS when
GE's large systems division was sold to Honeywell.
@ -112,16 +123,21 @@ information for the $IDENTcard.
Not elegant."
.TP
.I directory
the user's
.B $HOME
directory.
This is the user's home directory:
the initial directory where the user is placed after logging in.
The value in this field is used to set the
.B HOME
environment variable.
.TP
.I shell
the program to run at login (if empty, use
This is the program to run at login (if empty, use
.IR /bin/sh ).
If set to a nonexistent executable, the user will be unable to login
through
.BR login (1).
The value in this field is used to set the
.B SHELL
environment variable.
.SH FILES
.I /etc/passwd
.SH NOTES
@ -148,5 +164,6 @@ shell field yields the same result and additionally allows the use of
.BR su (1),
.BR getpwent (3),
.BR getpwnam (3),
.BR crypt (3),
.BR group (5),
.BR shadow (5)