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).
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 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
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.