UPDATE-PASSWD(8)

NAME
update-passwd - safely update /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow and /etc/group

SYNOPSIS
update-passwd [options]

DESCRIPTION
update-passwd handles updates of /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow and /etc/group on running Debian systems. It compares the current files to master copies, distributed in the base-passwd package, and updates all entries in the global system range (that is, 0–99). It leaves backup copies of the previous versions of modified files with the extension ‘.org’ (for “original”).

OPTIONS
update-passwd follows the usual GNU command line syntax, with long options starting with two dashes (‘-’).

-p, --passwd-master=FILE
    Use FILE as the master copy of the passwd database. The default value is /usr/share/base-passwd/passwd.master.

-g, --group-master=FILE
    Use FILE as the master copy of the group database. The default value is /usr/share/base-passwd/group.master.

-P, --passwd=FILE
    Use FILE as the system passwd database. The default value is /etc/passwd.

-S, --shadow=FILE
    Use FILE as the system shadow database. The default value is /etc/shadow.

-G, --group=FILE
    Use FILE as the system group database. The default value is /etc/group.

-s, --sanity-check
    Only perform sanity-checks but don't do anything.

-v, --verbose
    Give detailed information about what we are doing. A second -v gives additional detail.

-n, --dry-run
    Don't do anything but only show what we would do.

-L, --no-locking
    Don't attempt to lock the account database. This should only be used for debugging purposes. I repeat: do not do this unless you are really sure you need this!

-h, --help
    Show a summary of how to use update-passwd.

-V, --version
    Show the version number

ENVIRONMENT

DEBIAN_HAS_FRONTEND
    If this environment variable is set and the --dry-run flag was not given, update-passwd uses debconf to prompt for whether to make changes. Each proposed change will produce a separate prompt. User or group removals, UID or GID changes, and home directory changes will be asked with high priority. User or group additions and shell changes will be asked with medium priority. Questions about whether to move entries above the NIS compat inclusion entry or whether to change the GECOS of a user are asked at low priority.

BUGS
At this moment update-passwd does not verify the shadow-file. It should check if the entries in the passwd are also in shadow and vice versa, and that passwords are not present in both files.

AUTHOR
Wichert Akkerman <wakkerma@debian.org>

This program was written for the Debian project, and is copyright 1999–2002 Wichert Akkerman and copyright 2002, 2003 Colin Watson. It is distributed under version 2 of the GNU General Public License.