PASSWD.CONF(4-SVR4) RISC/os Reference Manual PASSWD.CONF(4-SVR4)
NAME
passwd.conf - configuration database for the passwd command
SYNOPSIS
/etc/passwd.conf
DESCRIPTION
When the command passwd(1) is executed, it will look for the
file /etc/passwd.conf, which must have mode 0644, and be
owned by userid 0 (root) and group 0 (root) (these restric-
tions are to assure that the file has not been tampered
with). If the file exists and the restrictions are met, the
file is read for information telling passwd how passwords
must be constructed.
This file is not supplied with the system as shipped, and
must be created by the systems administrator to be used.
Without the file, the standard System V rules apply.
Each line contains keyword/value pairs, separated by whi-
tespace. Leading and trailing whitespace is ignored. If a
word begins with a #, the rest of the line is ignored as a
comment.
The following are the valid keywords, values, and defaults:
length This sets the minimum length for a password.
The value must be in the range 1-8,
inclusive. The default is 6.
minimum This is a synonym for length.
shift This says whether or not to allow the
password to be the same as, a circular
shift of, or the reverse of the user-
name. If no value, "yes", or "1" is
specified, the password is not res-
tricted in this way. If the value "no"
or "0" is specified, the password is
restricted. By default, this restric-
tion is on.
differ This sets the number of positions by
which the new and old passwords must
differ; that is, the minimum number of
characters which must be different
between the old and new passwords. The
value must be in the range 0-7,
inclusive, and if it is more than the
number of characters in the password,
will be reduced to that number. The
default is 3.
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PASSWD.CONF(4-SVR4) RISC/os Reference Manual PASSWD.CONF(4-SVR4)
diffpos This is a synonym for differ.
alpha This specifies the number of characters
in the password that must be alphabetic
characters. The value must be in the
range 0-8, inclusive, and if it is more
than the minimum password length minus
the number of special characters, it
will be reduced to that value. The
default is 2.
special This specifies the number of characters
in the password that must be non-
alphabetic characters. The value must
be in the range 0-8, inclusive, and may
be reduced or force a reduction in the
minimum number of alphabetic characters
if it is too large (the alphabetic char-
acter count is always reduced first).
The default is 1.
nonalpha This is a synonym for special.
insist This says whether or not to allow the
user to force a password by being
insistent (typing the same password in a
number of times; see numinsist below for
information). If no value, "yes", or
"1" is specified, insistence causes
acceptance. If the value "no" or "0" is
specified, nonconforming passwords are
rejected despite insistence. By
default, nonconforming passwords are
rejected.
numinsist This sets the number of times the same
password must be types in a row before
it will be accepted. This value is
meaningless if insist is not set. The
value must be in the range 1-25,
inclusive. The default is 1.
tries This specifies the total number of
attempts that can be made to set the
password. The value must be in the
range 1-25, inclusive. The default is
3.
retypes This sets the number of times a password
can be retyped incorrectly before the
program gives up (note that this is not
the number of attempts at retyping the
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PASSWD.CONF(4-SVR4) RISC/os Reference Manual PASSWD.CONF(4-SVR4)
password after a valid new password is
entered, but the number of times a valid
new password can be entered followed by
an incorrect retyping). The value must
be in the range 1-25, inclusive. The
default is 2.
bsd This is a special entry that tells
passwd to set the configuration values
to behave like the BSD passwd command.
This is equivalent to giving the follow-
ing entries:
minlength 5
shift
differ 0
alpha 0
special 0
insist
numinsist 3
tries 3
retypes 2
If a keyword is given more than once, the last value seen in
the file is used.
Case is ignored in both keywords and values, so BSD is
equivalent to bsd, and Yes is equivalent to yes.
When passwd reads the file, any errors encountered will
reset all values back to their default values and the confi-
guration file ignored. If the user is the super-user, mes-
sages are printed to aid in fixing the file. Otherwise,
errors are silently ignored.
SEE ALSO
passwd(4)
passwd(1) in the User's Reference Manual.
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