pw/pw.conf.5

   1 .\" Copyright (C) 1996
   2 .\" David L. Nugent.  All rights reserved.
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  25 .\" $FreeBSD$
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  27 .Dd December 9, 1996
  28 .Dt PW.CONF 5
  29 .Os
  30 .Sh NAME
  31 .Nm pw.conf
  32 .Nd format of the pw.conf configuration file
  33 .Sh DESCRIPTION
  34 The file
  35 .Aq Pa /etc/pw.conf
  36 contains configuration data for the
  37 .Xr pw 8
  38 program.
  39 The
  40 .Xr pw 8
  41 program is used for maintenance of the system password and group
  42 files, allowing users and groups to be added, deleted and changed.
  43 This file may be modified via the
  44 .Xr pw 8
  45 command using the
  46 .Ar useradd
  47 command and the
  48 .Fl D
  49 option, or by editing it directly with a text editor.
  50 .Pp
  51 Each line in
  52 .Aq Pa /etc/pw.conf
  53 is treated either a comment or as configuration data;
  54 blank lines and lines commencing with a
  55 .Ql \&#
  56 character are considered comments, and any remaining lines are
  57 examined for a leading keyword, followed by corresponding data.
  58 .Pp
  59 Keywords recognized by
  60 .Xr pw 8
  61 are:
  62 .Bl -tag -width password_days -offset indent -compact
  63 .It defaultpasswd
  64 affect passwords generated for new users
  65 .It reuseuids
  66 reuse gaps in uid sequences
  67 .It reusegids
  68 reuse gaps in gid sequences
  69 .It nispasswd
  70 path to the NIS passwd database
  71 .It skeleton
  72 where to obtain default home contents
  73 .It newmail
  74 mail to send to new users
  75 .It logfile
  76 log user/group modifications to this file
  77 .It home
  78 root directory for home directories
  79 .It shellpath
  80 paths in which to locate shell programs
  81 .It shells
  82 list of valid shells (without path)
  83 .It defaultshell
  84 default shell (without path)
  85 .It defaultgroup
  86 default group
  87 .It extragroups
  88 add new users to this groups
  89 .It defaultclass
  90 place new users in this login class
  91 .It minuid
  92 .It maxuid
  93 range of valid default user ids
  94 .It mingid
  95 .It maxgid
  96 range of valid default group ids
  97 .It expire_days
  98 days after which account expires
  99 .It password_days
 100 days after which password expires
 101 .El
 102 .Pp
 103 Valid values for
 104 .Ar defaultpasswd
 105 are:
 106 .Bl -tag -width password_days -offset indent -compact
 107 .It no
 108 disable login on newly created accounts
 109 .It yes
 110 force the password to be the account name
 111 .It none
 112 force a blank password
 113 .It random
 114 generate a random password
 115 .El
 116 .Pp
 117 The second and third options are insecure and should be avoided if
 118 possible on a publicly accessible system.
 119 The first option requires that the superuser run
 120 .Xr passwd 1
 121 to set a password before the account may be used.
 122 This may also be useful for creating administrative accounts.
 123 The final option causes
 124 .Xr pw 8
 125 to respond by printing a randomly generated password on stdout.
 126 This is the preferred and most secure option.
 127 .Xr Pw 8
 128 also provides a method of setting a specific password for the new
 129 user via a filehandle (command lines are not secure).
 130 .Pp
 131 Both
 132 .Ar reuseuids
 133 and
 134 .Ar reusegids
 135 determine the method by which new user and group id numbers are
 136 generated.
 137 A
 138 .Ql \&yes
 139 in this field will cause
 140 .Xr pw 8
 141 to search for the first unused user or group id within the allowed
 142 range, whereas a
 143 .Ql \&no
 144 will ensure that no other existing user or group id within the range
 145 is numerically lower than the new one generated, and therefore avoids
 146 reusing gaps in the user or group id sequence that are caused by
 147 previous user or group deletions.
 148 Note that if the default group is not specified using the
 149 .Ar defaultgroup
 150 keyword,
 151 .Xr pw 8
 152 will create a new group for the user and attempt to keep the new
 153 user's uid and gid the same.
 154 If the new user's uid is currently in use as a group id, then the next
 155 available group id is chosen instead.
 156 .Pp
 157 On NIS servers which maintain a separate passwd database to
 158 .Pa /etc/master.passwd ,
 159 this option allows the additional file to be concurrently updated
 160 as user records are added, modified or removed.
 161 If blank or set to 'no', no additional database is updated.
 162 An absolute pathname must be used.
 163 .Pp
 164 The
 165 .Ar skeleton
 166 keyword nominates a directory from which the contents of a user's
 167 new home directory is constructed.
 168 This is
 169 .Pa /usr/share/skel
 170 by default.
 171 .Xr Pw 8 Ns 's
 172 .Fl m
 173 option causes the user's home directory to be created and populated
 174 using the files contained in the
 175 .Ar skeleton
 176 directory.
 177 .Pp
 178 To send an initial email to new users, the
 179 .Ar newmail
 180 keyword may be used to specify a path name to a file containing
 181 the message body of the message to be sent.
 182 To avoid sending mail when accounts are created, leave this entry
 183 blank or specify
 184 .Ql \&no .
 185 .Pp
 186 The
 187 .Ar logfile
 188 option allows logging of password file modifications into the
 189 nominated log file.
 190 To avoid creating or adding to such a logfile, then leave this
 191 field blank or specify
 192 .Ql \&no .
 193 .Pp
 194 The
 195 .Ar home
 196 keyword is mandatory.
 197 This specifies the location of the directory in which all new user
 198 home directories are created.
 199 .Pp
 200 .Ar shellpath
 201 specifies a list of directories - separated by colons
 202 .Ql \&:
 203 - which contain the programs used by the login shells.
 204 .Pp
 205 The
 206 .Ar shells
 207 keyword specifies a list of programs available for use as login
 208 shells.
 209 This list is a comma-separated list of shell names which should
 210 not contain a path.
 211 These shells must exist in one of the directories nominated by
 212 .Ar shellpath .
 213 .Pp
 214 The
 215 .Ar defaultshell
 216 keyword nominates which shell program to use for new users when
 217 none is specified on the
 218 .Xr pw 8
 219 command line.
 220 .Pp
 221 The
 222 .Ar defaultgroup
 223 keyword defines the primary group (the group id number in the
 224 password file) used for new accounts.
 225 If left blank, or the word
 226 .Ql \&no
 227 is used, then each new user will have a corresponding group of
 228 their own created automatically.
 229 This is the recommended procedure for new users as it best secures each
 230 user's files against interference by other users of the system
 231 irrespective of the
 232 .Em umask
 233 normally used by the user.
 234 .Pp
 235 .Ar extragroups
 236 provides an automatic means of placing new users into groups within
 237 the
 238 .Pa /etc/groups
 239 file.
 240 This is useful where all users share some resources, and is preferable
 241 to placing users into the same primary group.
 242 The effect of this keyword can be overridden using the
 243 .Fl G
 244 option on the
 245 .Xr pw 8
 246 command line.
 247 .Pp
 248 The
 249 .Ar defaultclass
 250 field determines the login class (See
 251 .Xr login.conf 5 )
 252 that new users will be allocated unless overwritten by
 253 .Xr pw 8 .
 254 .Pp
 255 The
 256 .Ar minuid ,
 257 .Ar maxuid ,
 258 .Ar mingid ,
 259 .Ar maxgid
 260 keywords determines the allowed ranges of automatically allocated user
 261 and group id numbers.
 262 The default values for both user and group ids are 1000 and 32000 as
 263 minimum and maximum respectively.
 264 The user and group id's actually used when creating an account with
 265 .Xr pw 8
 266 may be overridden using the
 267 .Fl u
 268 and
 269 .Fl g
 270 command line options.
 271 .Pp
 272 The
 273 .Ar expire_days
 274 and
 275 .Ar password_days
 276 are used to automatically calculate the number of days from the date
 277 on which an account is created when the account will expire or the
 278 user will be forced to change the account's password.
 279 A value of
 280 .Ql \&0
 281 in either field will disable the corresponding (account or password)
 282 expiration date.
 283 .Sh LIMITS
 284 The maximum line length of
 285 .Pa /etc/pw.conf
 286 is 1024 characters.
 287 Longer lines will be skipped and treated
 288 as comments.
 289 .Sh FILES
 290 .Bl -tag -width /etc/master.passwd -compact
 291 .It Pa /etc/pw.conf
 292 .It Pa /etc/passwd
 293 .It Pa /etc/master.passwd
 294 .It Pa /etc/group
 295 .El
 296 .Sh SEE ALSO
 297 .Xr passwd 1 ,
 298 .Xr group 5 ,
 299 .Xr login.conf 5 ,
 300 .Xr passwd 5 ,
 301 .Xr pw 8