From 60017fa5bccd187fe57530b24db669e6ae0581f8 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 4 May 2012 07:35:15 +1200
Subject: [PATCH] passwd.5: Various minor fixes and improvements

Signed-off-by: Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@gmail.com>
---
 man5/passwd.5 | 41 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------
 1 file changed, 29 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-)

diff --git a/man5/passwd.5 b/man5/passwd.5
index 5c32108c9..373912930 100644
--- a/man5/passwd.5
+++ b/man5/passwd.5
@@ -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)