rosenblg@csd2.UUCP (Gary J. Rosenblum) (05/22/85)
does anyone know what a * in the password field in /etc/passwd or /etc/group means?? thanks (ihnp4, allegra)!csd2!rosenblg or rosenblg@csd2
gwyn@brl-tgr.ARPA (Doug Gwyn <gwyn>) (05/23/85)
> does anyone know what a * in the password field in /etc/passwd > or /etc/group means?? A "*" will not match any encrypted password, so it prevents password access to that user/group. This is useful when you need the account for filing purposes (e.g. "bin" may own all system binaries) but don't want anyone logging in and operating under that account. By the way, an EMPTY field means "no password required".
seth@megad.UUCP (Seth H Zirin) (05/23/85)
> does anyone know what a * in the password field in /etc/passwd > or /etc/group means?? Seems to me that it means you can't login to that user. You also can't su to that user unless you're doing it from root (i.e. no passwd needed). We generally do this for logins like lp, bin, sys, and adm, that only need to be accessed from superuser (here at least). -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Name: Seth H Zirin UUCP: {decvax, ihnp4}!philabs!sbcs!megad!seth Keeper of the News for megad
acharya@sbcs.UUCP (Shridhar Acharya) (05/23/85)
> > > does anyone know what a * in the password field in /etc/passwd > or /etc/group means?? thanks > > (ihnp4, allegra)!csd2!rosenblg > or rosenblg@csd2 The * in the password file prevents a person from logging in on the machine from a local terminal. The only way that the user can login on the machine is by rlogin's from other machines. uucp: {allegra,hocsd,philabs,ogcvax}!sbcs!acharya arpa: acharya%suny-sb.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa CSNet: acharya@sbcs.csnet
mrl@drutx.UUCP (LongoMR) (05/28/85)
Any non-matchable string in the password field (i.e. any string not exactly 13 characters long) will disallow a manual login for anyone except root since there can never be a match. This is sometimes useful for admin type logins which must exist for special software to run out of cron, but should not have anyone manually logging in. Mark Longo ATT ISL Denver