chage 1 User Commands chage change user password expiry information chage options user chage command changes the number of days between password changes and the date of the last password change. This information is used by the system to determine when a user must change her password. The options which apply to the chage command are: -d, --lastday LAST_DAY Set the number of days since January 1st, 1970 when the password was last changed. The date may also be expressed in the format YYYY-MM-DD (or the format more commonly used in your area). -E, --expiredate EXPIRE_DATE Set the date number of days since January 1, 1970 on which the user's account will no longer be accessible. The date may also be expressed in the format YYYY-MM-DD (or the format more commonly used in your area). A user whose account is locked must contact the system administrator before being able to use the system again. Passing the number -1 as the EXPIRE_DATE will remove an account expiration date. -h, --help Display help message and exit. -I, --inactive INACTIVE Set the number of days of inactivity after a password has expired before the account is locked. The INACTIVE option is the number of days of inactivity. A user whose account is locked must contact the system administrator before being able to use the system again. Passing the number -1 as the INACTIVE will remove an accounts inactivity. -l, --list Show account aging information. -m, --mindays MIN_DAYS Set the minimum number of days between password changes. A value of zero for this field indicates that the user may change her password at any time. -M, --maxdays MAX_DAYS Set maximum number of days during which a password is valid. When MAX_DAYS plus LAST_DAY is less than the current day, the user will be required to change her password before being able to use her account. This occurence can be planned for in advance by use of the -W option, which provides the user with advance warning. Passing the number -1 as the MAX_DAYS will remove checking a password validation. -W, --warndays WARN_DAYS Set the number of days of warning before a password change is required. The WARN_DAYS option is the number of days prior to the password expiring that a user will be warned her password is about to expire. If none of the options are selected, chage operates in an interactive fashion, prompting the user with the current values for all of the fields. Enter the new value to change the field, or leave the line blank to use the current value. The current value is displayed between a pair of [ ] marks. The chage program requires shadow password file to be available. Its functionality is not available when passwords are stored in the passwd file. The chage command is restricted to the root user, except for the -l option, which may be used by an unprivileged user to determine when her password or account is due to expire. /etc/passwd user account information /etc/shadow secure user account information The chage command exits with the following values: 0 success 1 permission denied 2 invalid command syntax 15 can't find the shadow password file passwd5 , shadow5 . Julianne Frances Haugh <jockgrrl@ix.netcom.com>