ChorusOS man pages section 1M: System Management Utilities

pwd_mkdb(1M)

NAME

pwd_mkdb- generate password databases

SYNOPSIS

pwd_mkdb

-C

-N

-p

-d

directory

-s

cachesize

-u

username

file

DESCRIPTION

The pwd_mkdb utility creates secure and insecure databases for the specified file. These databases are then installed into /etc/spwd.db and /etc/pwd.db respectively. The file is installed into /etc/master.passwd. The file must be in the correct format (see passwd(4CC)). It is important to note that the format used in this system is different from the historic Version 7 style format.

OPTIONS

The options are as follows:

-C: Check if the password file is in the correct format. Do not change, add, or remove any files.
-N: Tell pwd_mkdb to exit with an error if it cannot obtain a lock on the file. By default, we block waiting for a lock on the source file. The lock is held through the rebuilding of the database.
-p: Create a Version 7 style password file and install it into /etc/passwd.
-d directory: Store databases into specified destination directory instead of /etc.
-u username: Only update the record for the specified user. Utilities that operate on a single user can use this option to avoid the overhead of rebuilding the entire database.
-s cachesize: Only update the record for the specified user. Utilities that operate on a single user can use this option to avoid the overhead of rebuilding the entire database.

The two databases differ in that the secure version contains the user's encrypted password and the insecure version has an asterisk (*).

The databases are used by the C library password routines (see getpwent(3STDC)).

RETURN VALUES

pwd_mkdb exits zero on success, non-zero on failure.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

If the PW_SCAN_BIG_IDS environment variable is set, pwd_mkdb will suppress the warning messages that are normally generated for large user and group IDs. Such IDs can cause serious problems with software that makes assumptions about the values of IDs.

FILES

/etc/pwd.db: The insecure password database file
/etc/pwd.db.tmp: A temporary file
/etc/spwd.db: The secure password database file
/etc/spwd.db.tmp: A temporary file
/etc/master.passwd: The current password file
/etc/passwd: A Version 7 format password file

ATTRIBUTES

See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

ATTRIBUTE TYPE	ATTRIBUTE VALUE
Interface Stability	Evolving

BUGS

Due to the necessity for atomic update of the password files, pwd_mkdb uses rename(2POSIX) to install them. This, however, requires that the file specified on the command line live on the same file system as the /etc directory.

There are the obvious races with multiple people running pwd_mkdb on different password files at the same time. The front-ends to pwd_mkdb, passwd(1M) and vipw(1B), handle the locking necessary to avoid this problem.

ChorusOS 5.0 Last Revised December 2001