linux man page for update-passwd

UPDATE-PASSWD(8)					      System Manager's Manual						  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 mas-
       ter 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 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

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.

DEBIAN
								   Debian tools 						  UPDATE-PASSWD(8)