PASSWD(5)
NAME
passwd − password file
DESCRIPTION
Passwd contains, for each user account, the following information: log-in name numerical user ID numerical group ID full name and uid initial working directory program to use as shell All fields but the last are derived from data in the network registry by the crpasswd(1m) program. On DOMAIN Systems, /etc/passwd exists soleley to provide account information in a form familiar to UNIX programs and users. It is not used in verifying passwords at login time and in fact, it includes no passwords at all.
Each field within a user’s entry is separated from the next by a colon. Each user is separated from the next by a newline. Since encrypted passwords are maintained in the registry and not copied into the password file by crpasswd, the second field is always null. If the Shell field is null, the Bourne Shell is used.
We supply a program, crpasswd(8), that builds /etc/passwd, /etc/group, and /etc/passwd.map from information in the network registry. To add a new user to the system, follow the procedures for creating a new account described the DOMAIN/IX Administrator’s Reference for BSD4.2, then update the password file by running crpasswd. Do not edit the password file unless you need to change the “shell” field. If you do change this field, run crpasswd after the change is completed.
EXAMPLE
The line below is a prototypical record in /etc/passwd. robinson::uuuu:gg:Sheryl &, xxxxxxxx.xxxxxxxx://home/dir:/bin/csh This example shows the /etc/passwd entry for user “Sheryl Robinson.” It includes her log-in name, a null field, her user and group ID numbers, her full name and uid (separated by a comma), home directory, and a shell field that specifies the C Shell. (If you include an ampersand in the full name field, it will be expanded into the logname. This labor-saving feature is, of course, only useful where someone logs in with some portion of their full name.) The uid is a unique numeric identifier derived from the time the account was created and the node ID of the node on which the account was created.
FILES
/etc/passwd the password file
/etc/passwd.map uid-to-userid mapping
/etc/group the group file