xref: /original-bsd/usr.bin/passwd/passwd.1 (revision 9acaf688)
1.\" Copyright (c) 1990 The Regents of the University of California.
2.\" All rights reserved.
3.\"
4.\" %sccs.include.redist.man%
5.\"
6.\"     @(#)passwd.1	6.7 (Berkeley) 06/22/90
7.\"
8.Dd
9.Dt PASSWD 1
10.Os BSD 4
11.Sh NAME
12.Nm passwd
13.Nd modify a user's password
14.Sh SYNOPSIS
15.Nm passwd
16.Op Fl l
17.Op Ar user
18.Sh DESCRIPTION
19.Nm Passwd
20changes the user's Kerberos password.  First, the user is prompted for their
21current password.
22If the current password is correctly typed, a new password is
23requested.
24The new password must be entered two times to verify any typing errors.
25.Pp
26The new password should be at least six characters long and not
27purely alphabetic.
28Its total length must be less than _PASSWORD_LEN (currently 128 characters).
29Numbers, upper case letters and meta characters
30are encouraged.
31.Pp
32Once the password has been verified,
33.Nm passwd
34communicates the new password information to
35the Kerberos authenticating host.
36.Tp Fl l
37This option causes the password to be updated only in the local
38password file, and not with the Kerberos database.
39When changing only the local password,
40.Xr mkpasswd  8
41is used to update the user database.  This is run in the background, and,
42at very large sites could take several minutes.  Until this update
43is completed, the password file is unavailable for other updates
44and the new password will not be available to programs.
45.Tp
46.Pp
47To change another user's Kerberos password, one must first
48run
49.Xr kinit 1
50followed by
51.Xr passwd 1 .
52The super-user is not required to provide a user's current password
53if only the local password is modified.
54.Sh FILES
55.Dw /etc/master.passwd
56.Di L
57.Dp Pa /etc/master.passwd
58the user database
59.Dp
60.Sh SEE ALSO
61.Xr chpass 1 ,
62.Xr kerberos 1 ,
63.Xr kinit 1 ,
64.Xr login 1 ,
65.Xr passwd 5 ,
66.Xr kpasswdd 8 ,
67.Xr mkpasswd 8 ,
68.Xr vipw 8
69.br
70Robert Morris and Ken Thompson,
71.Em UNIX password security
72.Sh HISTORY
73A
74.Nm passwd
75command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.
76