PASSWD(1) MachTen Reference Manual PASSWD(1)

NAME
passwd - modify a user’s password

SYNOPSIS
passwd [-l] [user]

DESCRIPTION
Passwd changes the user’s Kerberos password. First, the user is prompted
for their current password. If the current password is correctly typed,
a new password is requested. The new password must be entered twice to
avoid typing errors.

The new password should be at least six characters long and not purely
alphabetic. Its total length must be less than _PASSWORD_LEN (currently
128 characters). Numbers, upper case letters and meta characters are en-
couraged.

Once the password has been verified, passwd communicates the new password
information to the Kerberos authenticating host.

-l This option causes the password to be updated only in the local
password file, and not with the Kerberos database. When changing
only the local password, pwd_mkdb(8) is used to update the password
databases.

To change another user’s Kerberos password, one must first run kinit(1)
followed by passwd(1). The super-user is not required to provide a us-
er’s current password if only the local password is modified.

FILES
/etc/master.passwd The user database
/etc/passwd A Version 7 format password file
/etc/passwd.XXXXXX Temporary copy of the password file

SEE ALSO
chpass(1), kerberos(1), kinit(1), login(1), passwd(5), kpasswdd(8),
pwd_mkdb(8), vipw(8)

Robert Morris, and Ken Thompson, UNIX password security.

HISTORY
A passwd command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.

4th Berkeley Distribution June 6, 1993 1