chage

CHAGE(1)                                                              CHAGE(1)



NAME
       chage - change user password expiry information

SYNOPSIS
       chage [-m mindays] [-M maxdays] [-d lastday] [-I inactive]
             [-E expiredate] [-W warndays] user

       chage -l user

DESCRIPTION
       chage  changes the number of days between password changes and the date
       of the last password change.  This information is used by the system to
       determine  when  a user must change her password.  The chage command is
       restricted to the root user, except for the -l  option,  which  may  be
       used  by an unprivileged user to determine when her password or account
       is due to expire.

       With the -m option, the value of mindays is the minimum number of  days
       between  password  changes.   A  value of zero for this field indicates
       that the user may change her password at any time.

       With the -M option, the value of maxdays is the maximum number of  days
       during  which  a  password is valid.  When maxdays plus lastday is less
       than the current day, the user will be required to change her  password
       before  being  able  to use her account.  This occurance can be planned
       for in advance by use of the -W option, which provides  the  user  with
       advance warning.

       With  the  -d  option, the value of lastday is the number of days since
       January 1st, 1970 when the password was last  changed.   The  date  may
       also be expressed in the format YYYY-MM-DD (or the format more commonly
       used in your area).

       The -E option is used to set a date on which the user's account will no
       longer  be  accessible.   The  expiredate  option is the number of days
       since January 1, 1970 on which the accounted is locked.  The  date  may
       also be expressed in the format YYYY-MM-DD (or the format more commonly
       used in your area).  A user whose account is locked  must  contact  the
       system administrator before being able to use the system again.

       The  -I  option is used to set the number of days of inactivity after a
       password has expired before the account is locked.  The inactive option
       is  the  number  of days of inactivity. A value of 0 disables this fea-
       ture.  A user whose account is locked must contact the system  adminis-
       trator before being able to use the system again.

       The  -W  option  is  used to set the number of days of warning before a
       password change is required.  The warndays option is the number of days
       prior  to the password expiring that a user will be warned her password
       is about to expire.

       If none of the options are selected, chage operates in  an  interactive
       fashion,  prompting  the  user  with  the current values for all of the
       fields.  Enter the new value to change the field,  or  leave  the  line
       blank to use the current value.  The current value is displayed between
       a pair of [ ] marks.

NOTE
       The chage program requires shadow password file to be  available.   Its
       functionality  is not available when passwords are stored in the passwd
       file.

FILES
       /etc/passwd - user account information
       /etc/shadow - shadow user account information

SEE ALSO
       passwd(5), shadow(5)

AUTHOR
       Julianne Frances Haugh <jockgrrl@ix.netcom.com>



                                                                      CHAGE(1)