-.\" Copyright (c) 1996
-.\" David L. Nugent.
-.\" Password Maintenance
+.\" Copyright (C) 1996
+.\" David L. Nugent. All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
-.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
-.\" must display the following acknowledgement:
-.\" This product includes software developed by David L. Nugent.
-.\" 4. The name of the author may not be used to endorse or promote products
-.\" derived from this software without specific prior written permission.
.\"
-.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE DAVID L. NUGENT ``AS IS'' AND
+.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY DAVID L. NUGENT AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
-.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL DAVID L. NUGENT BE LIABLE
+.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL DAVID L. NUGENT OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
.\"
-.\" $Id$
+.\" $FreeBSD$
.\"
-.Dd December 9, 1996
+.Dd March 30, 2007
.Dt PW.CONF 5
-.Os
+.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm pw.conf
.Nd format of the pw.conf configuration file
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The file
-.Aq Pa /etc/pw.conf
+.Pa /etc/pw.conf
contains configuration data for the
.Xr pw 8
-program.
+utility.
The
.Xr pw 8
-program is used for maintenance of the system password and group
+utility is used for maintenance of the system password and group
files, allowing users and groups to be added, deleted and changed.
This file may be modified via the
.Xr pw 8
command using the
-.Ql \&useradd
+.Ar useradd
command and the
-.Ql \&-D
+.Fl D
option, or by editing it directly with a text editor.
.Pp
Each line in
-.Aq Pa /etc/pw.conf
+.Pa /etc/pw.conf
is treated either a comment or as configuration data;
blank lines and lines commencing with a
.Ql \&#
character are considered comments, and any remaining lines are
examined for a leading keyword, followed by corresponding data.
.Pp
-Keywords recognised by
+Keywords recognized by
.Xr pw 8
are:
.Bl -tag -width password_days -offset indent -compact
.It defaultpasswd
-affects passwords generated for new users
+affect passwords generated for new users
.It reuseuids
reuse gaps in uid sequences
.It reusegids
reuse gaps in gid sequences
+.It nispasswd
+path to the
+.Tn NIS
+passwd database
.It skeleton
where to obtain default home contents
.It newmail
log user/group modifications to this file
.It home
root directory for home directories
+.It homemode
+permissions for home directory
.It shellpath
paths in which to locate shell programs
.It shells
.Pp
Valid values for
.Ar defaultpasswd
-are
+are:
.Bl -tag -width password_days -offset indent -compact
.It no
-disables login on newly created accounts
+disable login on newly created accounts
.It yes
-forces the password to be the account name
+force the password to be the account name
.It none
-forces a blank password
+force a blank password
.It random
-Generates a random password
+generate a random password
.El
.Pp
The second and third options are insecure and should be avoided if
.Xr pw 8
to respond by printing a randomly generated password on stdout.
This is the preferred and most secure option.
+The
.Xr pw 8
-also provides a method of setting a specific password for the new
+utility also provides a method of setting a specific password for the new
user via a filehandle (command lines are not secure).
.Pp
Both
If the new user's uid is currently in use as a group id, then the next
available group id is chosen instead.
.Pp
+On
+.Tn NIS
+servers which maintain a separate passwd database to
+.Pa /etc/master.passwd ,
+this option allows the additional file to be concurrently updated
+as user records are added, modified or removed.
+If blank or set to 'no', no additional database is updated.
+An absolute pathname must be used.
+.Pp
The
.Ar skeleton
keyword nominates a directory from which the contents of a user's
This is
.Pa /usr/share/skel
by default.
-.Xr pw 8 's
-.Ql \&-m
+The
+.Xr pw 8 Ns 's
+.Fl m
option causes the user's home directory to be created and populated
using the files contained in the
.Ar skeleton
This specifies the location of the directory in which all new user
home directories are created.
.Pp
+The
+.Ar homemode
+keyword is optional.
+It specifies the creation mask of the user's home directory and is modified by
+.Xr umask 2 .
+.Pp
+The
.Ar shellpath
-specifies a list of directories - separated by colons
+keyword specifies a list of directories - separated by colons
.Ql \&:
- which contain the programs used by the login shells.
.Pp
The
.Ar defaultshell
keyword nominates which shell program to use for new users when
-none is specified on the
+none is specified on the
.Xr pw 8
command line.
.Pp
their own created automatically.
This is the recommended procedure for new users as it best secures each
user's files against interference by other users of the system
-irrespective of the
+irrespective of the
.Em umask
normally used by the user.
.Pp
+The
.Ar extragroups
-provides an automatic means of placing new users into groups within
+keyword provides an automatic means of placing new users into groups within
the
.Pa /etc/groups
file.
This is useful where all users share some resources, and is preferable
to placing users into the same primary group.
The effect of this keyword can be overridden using the
-.Ql \&-G
+.Fl G
option on the
.Xr pw 8
command line.
.Ar maxuid ,
.Ar mingid ,
.Ar maxgid
-keywords determines the allowed ranges of automatically allocated user
+keywords determine the allowed ranges of automatically allocated user
and group id numbers.
The default values for both user and group ids are 1000 and 32000 as
minimum and maximum respectively.
The user and group id's actually used when creating an account with
.Xr pw 8
may be overridden using the
-.Ql \&-u
+.Fl u
and
-.Ql \&-g
+.Fl g
command line options.
.Pp
The
.Ql \&0
in either field will disable the corresponding (account or password)
expiration date.
-.Pp
.Sh LIMITS
The maximum line length of
-.Pa /etc/acct/pw.conf
-is 1024 characters. Longer lines will be skipped and treated
+.Pa /etc/pw.conf
+is 1024 characters.
+Longer lines will be skipped and treated
as comments.
.Sh FILES
.Bl -tag -width /etc/master.passwd -compact
.It Pa /etc/group
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
-.Xr pw 8 ,
-.Xr login.conf 5 ,
.Xr passwd 1 ,
+.Xr umask 2 ,
+.Xr group 5 ,
+.Xr login.conf 5 ,
.Xr passwd 5 ,
-.Xr group 5
-
-
+.Xr pw 8
git.ckatri.com / pw-darwin.git / blobdiff