UPDATE-PASSWD(8)					      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
       master  copies, distributed in the base-passwd package, and updates all
       entries in the global system range (that is, 099).


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 dont do anything.

       -v, --verbose
	      Give detailed information about we are doing.  A second -v gives
	      additional detail.

       -n, --dry-run
	      Dont do anything but only show what we would do.

       -L, --no-locking
	      Dont 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 

       This  program  was  written  for  the  Debian project, and is copyright
       19992002 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)