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researchv10 Dan Cross

.TH PASSWD 5
.CT 1 sa_nonmortals secur
.SH NAME
passwd, group \- password and group files
.SH DESCRIPTION
The file
.F /etc/passwd
has one line for each user with the
following information:
.IP
.nf
name (login name, contains no upper case)
encrypted password
numerical user ID
numerical group ID
comp center account number, box number, optional user-id
initial working directory
program to use as shell
.fi
.PP
Fields 
are separated by colons.
The comp center field is used only when communicating with certain
systems, and in other installations can contain
any desired information.
If the password field is null, no password is demanded;
if the shell field is null,
.F /bin/sh
is used.
.PP
The file
.F /etc/group
defines the membership of users in permission groups.
It contains one line for each group with the following
colon-separated fields:
.IP
.nf
group name
encrypted password
numerical group ID
comma-separated list of all users allowed in the group
.fi
.PP
Each group is separated from the next by a new-line.
If the password field is null,
.IR newgrp (1)
will not demand a password.
.PP
Because the passwords are encrypted,
these files can and do have general read
permission and can be used, for example,
to map numerical ids to names.
.SH FILES
.F /etc/passwd
.F /etc/group
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.IR newgrp (1),
.IR getpwent (3), 
.IR login (8), 
.IR crypt (3), 
.IR passwd (1)
.SH BUGS
.IR Passwd (1)
won't change passwords in the group file.

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