ypchfn

yppasswd(1)                                                        yppasswd(1)



NAME
       yppasswd, ypchfn, ypchsh - change your password in the NIS database

SYNOPSIS
       yppasswd [-f] [-l] [-p] [user]
       ypchfn [user]
       ypchsh [user]

DESCRIPTION
       The  standard passwd(1), chfn(1) and chsh(1) cannot be used under Linux
       to change the users NIS password, shell and GECOS information,  because
       they only modify the password file on the local host.  For changing the
       NIS information, they are replaced by their NIS counterparts, yppasswd,
       ypchfn and ypchsh.

       These  commands are the same program, linked to different names.  Using
       the command line switches, you can choose whether to update your  pass-
       word  -p, your login shell -l, or your GECOS field -f, or a combination
       of them.  yppasswd implies the -p option, if no other option is  given.
       If  you  use  the  -f  or  -l option, you also need to add the -p flag.
       ypchfn implies the -f option, and ypchsh -l.

       When invoked without the user argument, the account information for the
       invoking  user will be updated, otherwise that of user will be updated.
       This option is only available to the super-user. If the yppasswdd  dae-
       mon  on  the  server supports it, you can give the root password of the
       server instead of the users [old] password.

       All tools will first prompt the  user  for  the  current  NIS  password
       needed  for  authentication with the yppasswdd(8) daemon. Subsequently,
       the program prompts for the updated information:

       yppasswd or -l
              Change the user's NIS password.    The user is prompted for  the
              new password.  While typing the password, echoing is turned off,
              so the password does not appear on the screen. An empty password
              is  rejected,  as are passwords shorter than six characters. The
              user will then be requested to retype the password to make  sure
              it wasn't    misspelled the first time.

       ypchsh or -l
              Change  the  user's  login shell. The user is prompted for a new
              shell, offering the old one as default:

                Login shell [/bin/sh]: _

              To accept the default, simply press return. To clear  the  shell
              field in your passwd(5) file entry (so that the system's default
              shell is selected), enter the string none.

       ypchfn or -f
              Change the user's full name and related information.  Tradition-
              ally,  some applications expect the GECOS field (field 4) of the
              passwd(5) file to contain the user's real name  (as  opposed  to
              the login name) plus some additional information like the office
              phone number. This information is  displayed  by  finger(1)  and
              probably some other tools, too.

              When  setting  the  full  name,  ypchfn  displays  the following
              prompts, with the defaults in brackets:

                Name [Joe Doe]:
                Location [2nd floor, bldg 34]:
                Office Phone [12345]:
                Home Phone []:

              To accept a default, simply press  return.  To  clear  a  field,
              enter the string none.

SEE ALSO
       chfn(1),  chsh(1),  finger(1),  passwd(5), passwd(1), ypcat(1), yppass-
       wdd(8), ypserv(8), ypwhich(1)


AUTHOR
       yppasswd is part of the yp-tools package, which was written by Thorsten
       Kukuk <kukuk@suse.de>.



YP Tools 2.7                       May 1998                        yppasswd(1)