pwck(1) [redhat man page]
PWCK(1) General Commands Manual PWCK(1) NAME
pwck - verify integrity of password files SYNOPSIS
pwck [-sr] [passwd shadow] DESCRIPTION
pwck verifies the integrity of the system authentication information. All entries in the /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow are checked to see that the entry has the proper format and valid data in each field. The user is prompted to delete entries that are improperly formatted or which have other incorrectable errors. Checks are made to verify that each entry has - the correct number of fields - a unique user name - a valid user and group identifier - a valid primary group - a valid home directory - a valid login shell The checks for correct number of fields and unique user name are fatal. If the entry has the wrong number of fields, the user will be prompted to delete the entire line. If the user does not answer affirmatively, all further checks are bypassed. An entry with a dupli- cated user name is prompted for deletion, but the remaining checks will still be made. All other errors are warning and the user is encouraged to run the usermod command to correct the error. The commands which operate on the /etc/passwd file are not able to alter corrupted or duplicated entries. pwck should be used in those circumstances to remove the offending entry. OPTIONS
By default, pwck operates on the files /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow. The user may select alternate files with the passwd and shadow parame- ters. Additionally, the user may execute the command in read-only mode by specifying the -r flag. This causes all questions regarding changes to be answered no without user intervention. pwck can also sort entries in /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow by UID. To run it in sort mode pass it -s flag. No checks are performed then, it just sorts. FILES
/etc/passwd - user account information /etc/shadow - encrypted password information /etc/group - group information SEE ALSO
group(5), passwd(5), shadow(5), usermod(8) DIAGNOSTICS
The pwck command exits with the following values: 0 Success 1 Syntax Error 2 One or more bad password entries 3 Cannot open password files 4 Cannot lock password files 5 Cannot update password files AUTHOR
Julianne Frances Haugh (jockgrrl@ix.netcom.com) PWCK(1)
Check Out this Related Man Page
GRPCK(8) System Management Commands GRPCK(8) NAME
grpck - verify integrity of group files SYNOPSIS
grpck [-r] [group [ shadow ]] grpck [-s] [group [ shadow ]] DESCRIPTION
The grpck command verifies the integrity of the groups information. It checks that all entries in /etc/group and /etc/gshadow have the proper format and contain valid data. The user is prompted to delete entries that are improperly formatted or which have other uncorrectable errors. Checks are made to verify that each entry has: o the correct number of fields o a unique and valid group name o a valid group identifier (/etc/group only) o a valid list of members and administrators o a corresponding entry in the /etc/gshadow file (respectively /etc/group for the gshadow checks) The checks for correct number of fields and unique group name are fatal. If an entry has the wrong number of fields, the user will be prompted to delete the entire line. If the user does not answer affirmatively, all further checks are bypassed. An entry with a duplicated group name is prompted for deletion, but the remaining checks will still be made. All other errors are warnings and the user is encouraged to run the groupmod command to correct the error. The commands which operate on the /etc/group and /etc/gshadow files are not able to alter corrupted or duplicated entries. grpck should be used in those circumstances to remove the offending entries. OPTIONS
The options which apply to the grpck command are: -r Execute the grpck command in read-only mode. This causes all questions regarding changes to be answered no without user intervention. -s Sort entries in /etc/group and /etc/gshadow by GID. By default, grpck operates on /etc/groupand /etc/gshadow. The user may select alternate files with the group and shadow parameters. CONFIGURATION
The following configuration variables in /etc/login.defs change the behavior of this tool: MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP (number) Maximum members per group entry. When the maximum is reached, a new group entry (line) is started in /etc/group (with the same name, same password, and same GID). The default value is 0, meaning that there are no limits in the number of members in a group. This feature (split group) permits to limit the length of lines in the group file. This is useful to make sure that lines for NIS groups are not larger than 1024 characters. If you need to enforce such limit, you can use 25. Note: split groups may not be supported by all tools (even in the Shadow toolsuite). You should not use this variable unless you really need it. FILES
/etc/group Group account information. /etc/gshadow Secure group account information. /etc/passwd User account information. EXIT VALUES
The grpck command exits with the following values: 0 success 1 invalid command syntax 2 one or more bad group entries 3 can't open group files 4 can't lock group files 5 can't update group files SEE ALSO
group(5), groupmod(8), gshadow(5), passwd(5), pwck(8), shadow(5). System Management Commands 06/24/2011 GRPCK(8)