yppasswd(1) manual page
Table of Contents
yppasswd, ypchfn, ypchsh - change your password in
the NIS database
yppasswd [-f] [-l] [-p] [user]
ypchfn [user]
ypchsh [user]
In the old days, the standard passwd(1)
, chfn(1)
and chsh(1)
tools could not be used under Linux to change the users NIS
password, shell and GECOS information. For changing the NIS information,
they were replaced by their NIS counterparts, yppasswd, ypchfn and ypchsh.
Today, this versions are deprecated and should not be used any longer.
Using
the command line switches, you can choose whether to update your password
-p, your login shell -l, or your GECOS field -f, or a combination of them.
yppasswd implies the -p option, if no other option is given. If you use the
-f or -l option, you also need to add the -p flag. ypchfn implies the -f option,
and ypchsh -l.
When invoked without the user argument, the account information
for the invoking user will be updated, otherwise that of user will be updated.
This option is only available to the super-user. If the yppasswdd daemon
on the server supports it, you can give the root password of the server
instead of the users [old] password.
All tools will first prompt the user
for the current NIS password needed for authentication with the yppasswdd(8)
daemon. Subsequently, the program prompts for the updated information:
- yppasswd or -p
- Change the user’s NIS password. The user is prompted for the
new password. While typing the password, echoing is turned off, so the password
does not appear on the screen. An empty password is rejected, as are passwords
shorter than six characters. The user will then be requested to retype the
password to make sure it wasn’t misspelled the first time.
- ypchsh or -l
- Change
the user’s login shell. The user is prompted for a new shell, offering the
old one as default:
- Login shell [/bin/sh]: _
- To accept the default, simply press return. To
clear the shell field in
- your passwd(5)
file entry (so that the system’s
default shell is selected), enter the string none.
- ypchfn or -f
- Change the
user’s full name and related information. Traditionally, some applications
expect the GECOS field (field 4) of the passwd(5)
file to contain the user’s
real name (as opposed to the login name) plus some additional information
like the office phone number. This information is displayed by finger(1)
and probably some other tools, too.
- When setting the full name,
- ypchfn displays
the following prompts, with the defaults in brackets:
- Name [Joe Doe]:Location [2nd floor, bldg 34]:Office Phone [12345]:Home
Phone []:
- To accept a default, simply press return. To clear a field, enter
the string
- none.
chfn(1)
, chsh(1)
, finger(1)
, passwd(5)
, passwd(1)
,
ypcat(1)
, yppasswdd(8)
, ypserv(8)
, ypwhich(1)
yppasswd is part of
the yp-tools package, which was written by Thorsten Kukuk <kukuk@linux-nis.org>.
Table of Contents
![[Go to CFHT Home Page]](/images/cfht-icon.gif){kind=icon}
Man Pages 
Back to Software Index 
Manpage Top Level