projects / unix-history / blame
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1 | .\" Copyright (c) 1991 The Regents of the University of California. |
| 2 | .\" All rights reserved. | |
| 3 | .\" | |
| 4 | .\" %sccs.include.redist.man% | |
| 5 | .\" | |
| 6 | .\" @(#)pwd_mkdb.8 5.1 (Berkeley) %G% | |
| 7 | .\" | |
| 8 | .TH PWD_MKDB 8 " | |
| 9 | .UC 7 | |
| 10 | .SH NAME | |
| 11 | pwd_mkdb \- generate the password databases | |
| 12 | .SH SYNOPSIS | |
| 13 | .nf | |
| 14 | .ft B | |
| 15 | pwd_mkdb [ \-p ] file | |
| 16 | .SH DESCRIPTION | |
| 17 | .I Pwd_mkdb | |
| 18 | creates | |
| 19 | .IR db (3) | |
| 20 | style secure and insecure databases for the specified file. | |
| 21 | These databases are then installed into ``/var/db/spwd.db'' and | |
| 22 | ``/var/db/pwd.db'' respectively. | |
| 23 | The file is installed into ``/etc/master.passwd''. | |
| 24 | The file must be in the correct format (see | |
| 25 | .IR passwd (5)). | |
| 26 | It is important to note that the format used in this system is | |
| 27 | different from the historic Version 7 style format. | |
| 28 | .PP | |
| 29 | The options are as follows: | |
| 30 | .TP | |
| 31 | \-p | |
| 32 | Create a Version 7 style password file and install it into ``/etc/password''. | |
| 33 | .PP | |
| 34 | The databases actually contain three copies of the original data. | |
| 35 | Each password file entry is converted into a rough approximation of a | |
| 36 | ``struct passwd'', with the strings placed inline. | |
| 37 | This object is then stored as the data for three separate keys. | |
| 38 | The first key is the pw_name field prepended by the _PW_KEYBYNAME character. | |
| 39 | The second key is the pw_uid field prepended by the _PW_KEYBYUID character. | |
| 40 | The third key is the line number in the original file prepended by the | |
| 41 | _PW_KEYBYNUM character. | |
| 42 | (The special characters are prepended to ensure that the keys do not | |
| 43 | collide.) | |
| 44 | .PP | |
| 45 | The two databases differ in that the secure version contains the user's | |
| 46 | encrypted password and the insecure version has an asterisk (``*'') | |
| 47 | .PP | |
| 48 | The databases are used by the C library password routines (see | |
| 49 | .IR getpwent (3)). | |
| 50 | .PP | |
| 51 | .I Pwd_mkdb | |
| 52 | exits zero on success, non-zero on failure. | |
| 53 | .SH FILES | |
| 54 | /var/db/pwd.db The insecure password database file | |
| 55 | .br | |
| 56 | /var/db/pwd.db.tmp A temporary file | |
| 57 | .br | |
| 58 | /var/db/spwd.db The secure password database file | |
| 59 | .br | |
| 60 | /var/db/spwd.db.tmp A temporary file | |
| 61 | .br | |
| 62 | /etc/master.passwd The current password file | |
| 63 | .br | |
| 64 | /etc/passwd A Version 7 format password file | |
| 65 | .SH BUGS | |
| 66 | Because of the necessity for atomic update of the password files, | |
| 67 | .I pwd_mkdb | |
| 68 | uses | |
| 69 | .IR rename (2) | |
| 70 | to install them. | |
| 71 | This, however, requires that the file specified on the command line live | |
| 72 | on the same file system as the ``/etc'' directory. | |
| 73 | .PP | |
| 74 | There are the obvious races with multiple people running | |
| 75 | .I pwd_mkdb | |
| 76 | on different password files at the same time. | |
| 77 | The front-ends to | |
| 78 | .IR pwd_mkdb , | |
| 79 | .IR chpass (1), | |
| 80 | .IR passwd (1) | |
| 81 | and | |
| 82 | .IR vipw (8), | |
| 83 | handle the locking necessary to avoid this problem. | |
| 84 | .SH COMPATIBILITY | |
| 85 | Previous versions of the system had a program similar to | |
| 86 | .I pwd_mkdb, | |
| 87 | .IR mkpasswd (8), | |
| 88 | which built | |
| 89 | .I dbm (3) | |
| 90 | style databases for the password file but depended on the calling programs | |
| 91 | to install them. | |
| 92 | The program was renamed in order that previous users of the program | |
| 93 | not be surprised by the changes in functionality. | |
| 94 | .SH SEE ALSO | |
| 95 | chpass(1), passwd(1), db(3), getpwent(3), passwd(5), vipw(8) |