pwd_mkdb man page on BSDOS

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PWD_MKDB(8)		  BSD System Manager's Manual		   PWD_MKDB(8)

NAME
     pwd_mkdb - generate the password databases

SYNOPSIS
     pwd_mkdb [-dlpr] [-c cachesize] file

DESCRIPTION
     Pwd_mkdb creates db(3) style secure and insecure databases for the speci-
     fied 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(5)).  It is important
     to note that the format used in this system is different from the his-
     toric Version 7 style format.

     The options are as follows:

     -c cachesize
	   Set the cache size of the database routines to cachesize kilobytes.

     -d	   Causes pwd_mkdb to write all output files in the current working
	   directory (e.g., /etc/passwd becomes ./passwd). This can be used to
	   build a pwd.db file for an anonymous ftp directory.	You should not
	   run as root when doing this, because if you accidentally forget the
	   -d option, pwd_mkdb could overwrite your /etc/master.passwd file.
	   When creating the databases for an anonymous ftp directory be sure
	   that you do not install the spwd.db or master.passwd files; they
	   are not needed for anonymous ftp and they contain the encrypted
	   passwords, which you do not want to make available.

     -l	   Do not try to rename file to /etc/master.passwd (or
	   ./master.passwd).

     -p	   Create a Version 7 style password file and install it into
	   /etc/passwd.

     -r	   Do not fail if root is unusual (wrong uid, etc).

     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(3)).

     The -c option is provided for performance tuning.	The default parameter
     (2048K) should provide reasonable performance on databases with 6000 or
     fewer accounts.  Increasing the cache size can be of great benefit on
     files with large numbers of entries, but too much cache can cause the ma-
     chine to start paging and reduce performance.

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

FILES
     /etc/master.passwd		       The current password file.
     /etc/passwd		       A Version 7 format password file.
     /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.

BUGS
     Because of the necessity for atomic update of the password files,
     pwd_mkdb uses rename(2) to install them.  This, however, requires that
     the file specified on the command line live on the same file system as
     the ``/etc'' directory.  For the same reason, the temporary output files
     must also reside on the same file system as the final files.  Thus, you
     must have enough free space for both the old and new files.

     There are the obvious races with multiple people running pwd_mkdb on dif-
     ferent password files at the same time.  The front-ends to pwd_mkdb:
     chpass(1),	 passwd(1) and vipw(8),	 handle the locking necessary to avoid
     this problem.

     The file /etc/master.passwd is always used for locking even if the -d op-
     tion is specified.	 This effectively prevents any user other than the su-
     per user from running pwd_mkdb. While it might seem logical to lock on
     file this does not work when two updates in the same directory are at-
     tempted at the same time from different files. For example:

	   # (cd /etc ; pwd_mkdb -pd /etc/master.passwd) &
	   # (cd /etc ; pwd_mkdb -pd /tmp/master.new) &

     In this case there will be collisions on all the files created.

COMPATIBILITY
     Previous versions of the system had a program similar to pwd_mkdb,
     mkpasswd(8),  which built dbm(3) style databases for the password file
     but depended on the calling programs to install them.  The program was
     renamed in order that previous users of the program not be surprised by
     the changes in functionality.

SEE ALSO
     chpass(1),	 passwd(1),  db(3),  getpwent(3),  passwd(5),  vipw(8)

BSDI BSD/OS			April 27, 1995				     2
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