passwd.4 (2010 09)

p
passwd(4) passwd(4)
WARNINGS
The login shell for the root user (uid 0) must be
/sbin/sh to guarantee the system can always boot.
Other shells such as sh, ksh, and csh are all located under the
/usr directory which may not be mounted
during earlier stages of the bootup process. Changing the login shell of the root user to a value other
than
/sbin/sh is allowed but may result in a non-functional system.
The information kept in the gecos field may conflict with unsupported or future uses of this field. Use of
the gecos field for keeping user identification information has not been formalized within any of the
industry standards. The current use of this field is derived from its use within the Berkeley Software
Distribution. Future standards may define this field for other purposes.
The following fields have size limitations as noted:
• Login name field can be no longer than 8 characters, or 255 characters if the support of long user
and group names is enabled on the system;
• Initial working directory field can be no longer than 63 characters, or 310 characters if the sup-
port of long user and group names is enabled on the system;
• Program field can be no longer than 44 characters.
• Results are unpredictable if these fields are longer than the limits specified above.
The following fields have numerical limitations as noted:
• The user ID is an integer value between 0 and
UID_MAX-1 inclusive. As a special case, -2 may
be present.
• The group ID is an integer value between 0 and
UID_MAX-1 inclusive. As a special case -2 may
be present.
• If either of these values are out of range, the
getpwent() functions reset the ID value to
(UID_MAX).
HP-UX 11i Version 3 is the last release to support trusted systems functionality.
EXAMPLES
Shadow Password Example
root:x:0:10:System Administrator:/:/sbin/sh
joe:x:100:50:Joe User,Post 4A,12345:/home/joe:/usr/bin/ksh
If the system has been converted to a shadowed standard system, the password fields of user
root and
user
joe contain an ’x’, and the actual encrypted passwords reside in /etc/shadow
. If it was a non-
shadowed standard system, the password fields of user
root and user joe would contain the actual
encrypted passwords.
NIS Example
root:3Km/o4Cyq84Xc:0:10:System Administrator:/:/sbin/sh
joe:r4hRJr4GJ4CqE:100:50:Joe User,Post 4A,12345:/home/joe:/usr/bin/ksh
+john:
-bob:
+@documentation:no-login:
-@marketing:
+:::Guest
In the NIS example, there are specific entries for users root and joe, in case the Network Information
System is out of order.
• User
john’s password entry in the Network Information System is incorporated without change.
• Any subsequent entries for user
bob are ignored.
• The password field for anyone in the netgroup
documentation is disabled.
• Users in netgroup
marketing are not returned by getpwent() and thus are not allowed to
log in.
• Anyone else can log in with their usual password, shell, and home directory, but with a gecos
field of
Guest.
HP-UX 11i Version 3: September 2010 − 3 − Hewlett-Packard Company 3