312 lines
13 KiB
XML
312 lines
13 KiB
XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.3//EN"
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"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.3/docbookx.dtd">
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<refentry id='passwd.1'>
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<!-- $Id: passwd.1.xml,v 1.8 2005/05/09 10:14:39 kloczek Exp $ -->
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<refmeta>
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<refentrytitle>passwd</refentrytitle>
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<manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
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<refmiscinfo class="sectdesc">User Commands</refmiscinfo>
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</refmeta>
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<refnamediv id='name'>
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<refname>passwd</refname>
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<refpurpose>change user password</refpurpose>
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</refnamediv>
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<refsynopsisdiv id='synopsis'>
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<cmdsynopsis>
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<command>passwd</command>
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<group choice='opt'>
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<arg choice='plain'>-f </arg><arg choice='plain'>-s </arg>
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</group>
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<arg choice='opt'>
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<replaceable>name</replaceable>
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</arg>
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</cmdsynopsis>
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<cmdsynopsis>
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<command>passwd</command>
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<arg choice='opt'>-g </arg>
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<group choice='opt'>
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<arg choice='plain'>-r </arg>
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<arg choice='plain'>-R </arg>
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</group>
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<arg choice='plain'>
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<replaceable>group</replaceable>
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</arg>
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</cmdsynopsis>
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<cmdsynopsis>
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<command>passwd</command>
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<arg choice='opt'>-x <replaceable>max</replaceable></arg>
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<arg choice='opt'>-n <replaceable>min</replaceable></arg>
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<arg choice='opt'>-w <replaceable>warn</replaceable></arg>
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<arg choice='opt'>-i <replaceable>inact</replaceable></arg>
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<arg choice='plain'><replaceable>login</replaceable>
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</arg>
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</cmdsynopsis>
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<cmdsynopsis>
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<command>passwd</command>
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<group choice='opt'>
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<arg choice='plain'>-l </arg>
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<arg choice='plain'>-u </arg>
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<arg choice='plain'>-d </arg>
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<arg choice='plain'>-S </arg>
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<arg choice='plain'>-e </arg>
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</group>
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<arg choice='plain'><replaceable>login</replaceable></arg>
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</cmdsynopsis>
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</refsynopsisdiv>
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<refsect1 id='description'>
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<title>DESCRIPTION</title>
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<para>
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<command>passwd</command> changes passwords for user and group
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accounts. A normal user may only change the password for his/her own
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account, the super user may change the password for any account. The
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administrator of a group may change the password for the group.
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<command>passwd</command> also changes account information, such as
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the full name of the user, user's login shell, or password expiry date
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and interval.
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</para>
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<para>The <option>-s</option> option makes <command>passwd</command>
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call <command>chsh</coamand> to change the user's shell. The
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<option>-f</option> option makes <command>passwd</command> call
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<command>chfn</command> to change the user's gecos information. These
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two options are only meant for compatiblity, since the other programs
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can be called directly.
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</para>
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<refsect2 id='password_changes'>
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<title>Password Changes</title>
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<para>The user is first prompted for his/her old password, if one is
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present. This password is then encrypted and compared against the
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stored password. The user has only one chance to enter the correct
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password. The super user is permitted to bypass this step so that
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forgotten passwords may be changed.
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</para>
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<para>After the password has been entered, password aging information
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is checked to see if the user is permitted to change the password at
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this time. If not, <command>passwd</command> refuses to change the
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password and exits.
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</para>
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<para>The user is then prompted for a replacement password. This
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password is tested for complexity. As a general guideline, passwords
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should consist of 6 to 8 characters including one or more from each
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of following sets:
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</para>
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<para>Lower case alphabetics</para>
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<para>Upper case alphabetics</para>
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<para>Digits 0 thru 9</para>
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<para>Punctuation marks</para>
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<para>Care must be taken not to include the system default erase or
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kill characters. <command>passwd</command> will reject any password
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which is not suitably complex.
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</para>
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<para>If the password is accepted, <command>passwd</command> will
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prompt again and compare the second entry against the first. Both
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entries are required to match in order for the password to be
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changed.
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</para>
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</refsect2>
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<refsect2 id='group_passwords'>
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<title>Group passwords</title>
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<para>
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When the <option>-g</option> option is used, the password for the
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named group is changed. The user must either be the super user, or a
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group administrator for the named group. The current group password
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is not prompted for. The <option>-r</option> option is used with the
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<option>-g</option> option to remove the current password from the
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named group. This allows group access to all members. The
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<option>-R</option> option is used with the <option>-g</option>
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option to restrict the named group for all users.
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</para>
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</refsect2>
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<refsect2 id='password_expiry_information'>
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<title>Password expiry information</title>
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<para>The password aging information may be changed by the super user
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with the <option>-x</option>, <option>-n</option>,
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<option>-w</option>, and <option>-i</option> options. The
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<option>-x</option> option is used to set the maximum number of days
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a password remains valid. After <emphasis remap='I'>max</emphasis>
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days, the password is required to be changed. The
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<option>-n</option> option is used to set the minimum number of days
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before a password may be changed. The user will not be permitted to
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change the password until <emphasis remap='I'>min</emphasis> days
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have elapsed. The <option>-w</option> option is used to set the
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number of days of warning the user will receive before his/her
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password will expire. The warning occurs <emphasis
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remap='I'>warn</emphasis> days before the expiration, telling the
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user how many days remain until the password is set to expire. The
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<option>-i</option> option is used to disable an account after the
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password has been expired for a number of days. After a user account
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has had an expired password for <emphasis remap='I'>inact</emphasis>
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days, the user may no longer sign on to the account.
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</para>
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<para>If you wish to immediately expire an account's password, you can
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use the <option>-e</option> option. This in effect can force a user
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to change his/her password at the user's next login. You can also
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use the <option>-d</option> option to delete a user's password (make
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it empty). Use caution with this option since it can make an account
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not require a password at all to login, leaving your system open to
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intruders.
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</para>
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</refsect2>
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<refsect2 id='account_maintenance'>
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<title>Account maintenance</title>
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<para> User accounts may be locked and unlocked with the
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<option>-l</option> and <option>-u</option> flags. The
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<option>-l</option> option disables an account by changing the
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password to a value which matches no possible encrypted value. The
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<option>-u</option> option re-enables an account by changing the
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password back to its previous value.
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</para>
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<para>The account status may be viewed with the <option>-S</option>
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option. The status information consists of 7 fields. The first
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field is the user's login name. The second field indicates if the
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user account is locked (L), has no password (NP), or has a usable
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password (P). The third field gives the date of the last password
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change. The next four fields are the minimum age, maximum age,
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warning period, and inactivity period for the password. These ages
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are expressed in days. See <emphasis remap='B'>Password expiry
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information</emphasis> above for a discussion of these fields.
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</para>
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</refsect2>
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<refsect2 id='hints_for_user_passwords'>
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<title>Hints for user passwords</title>
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<para>The security of a password depends upon the strength of the
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encryption algorithm and the size of the key space. The <emphasis
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remap='B'>\s-2UNIX</emphasis> System encryption method is based on
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the NBS DES algorithm and is very secure. The size of the key space
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depends upon the randomness of the password which is selected.
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</para>
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<para>Compromises in password security normally result from careless
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password selection or handling. For this reason, you should not
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select a password which appears in a dictionary or which must be
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written down. The password should also not be a proper name, your
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license number, birth date, or street address. Any of these may be
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used as guesses to violate system security.
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</para>
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<para>Your password must easily remembered so that you will not be
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forced to write it on a piece of paper. This can be accomplished by
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appending two small words together and separating each with a
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special character or digit. For example, Pass%word.
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</para>
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<para>Other methods of construction involve selecting an easily
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remembered phrase from literature and selecting the first or last
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letter from each word. An example of this is
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</para>
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<para>Ask not for whom the bell tolls.</para>
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<para>which produces</para>
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<para>An4wtbt.</para>
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<para>You may be reasonably sure few crackers will have included this
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in their dictionaries. You should, however, select your own methods
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for constructing passwords and not rely exclusively on the methods
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given here.
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</para>
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</refsect2>
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<refsect2 id='notes_about_group_passwords'>
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<title>Notes about group passwords</title>
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<para>Group passwords are an inherent security problem since more than
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one person is permitted to know the password. However, groups are a
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useful tool for permitting co-operation between different users.
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</para>
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</refsect2>
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</refsect1>
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<refsect1 id='caveats'>
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<title>CAVEATS</title>
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<para>Not all options may be supported. Password complexity checking
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may vary from site to site. The user is urged to select a password as
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complex as he feels comfortable with. Users may not be able to change
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their password on a system if NIS is enabled and they are not logged
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into the NIS server.
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</para>
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</refsect1>
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<refsect1 id='files'>
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<title>FILES</title>
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<variablelist>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><filename>/etc/passwd</filename></term>
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<listitem>user account information</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term><filename>/etc/shadow</filename></term>
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<listitem>secure user account information</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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</variablelist>
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</refsect1>
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<refsect1 id='exit_values'>
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<title>EXIT VALUES</title>
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<variablelist remap='TP'>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>
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The <command>passwd</command> command exits with the
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following values:
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</term>
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<listitem>
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<para>
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<literal>0</literal> - success
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<!-- .br -->
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<literal>1</literal> - permission denied
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<!-- .br -->
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<literal>2</literal> - invalid combination of options
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<!-- .br -->
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<literal>3</literal> - unexpected failure, nothing done
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<!-- .br -->
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<literal>4</literal> - unexpected failure, passwd file
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missing
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<!-- .br -->
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<literal>5</literal> - passwd file busy, try again
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later <!-- .br -->
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<literal>6</literal> - invalid argument to option
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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</variablelist>
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</refsect1>
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<refsect1 id='see_also'>
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<title>SEE ALSO</title>
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<para>
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<citerefentry>
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<refentrytitle>group</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
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</citerefentry>,
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<citerefentry>
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<refentrytitle>passwd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
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</citerefentry>,
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<citerefentry>
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<refentrytitle>shadow</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
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</citerefentry>
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</para>
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</refsect1>
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<refsect1 id='author'>
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<title>AUTHOR</title>
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<para>Julianne Frances Haugh <jockgrrl@ix.netcom.com></para>
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</refsect1>
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</refentry>
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