passwd file

[djoshi]

what does the meaning of * in the password file after the login name?

user:*:6026:600:user,,,:/home/user:/usr/bin/ksh

Thx,

[Patrick Wallek · Accepted solution]

'man 4 passwd' will tell you what the fields in the /etc/passwd file are.

That is where the encrypted password would be. There are 3 possible for the encrypted password to NOT be there:

1) The systems is trusted, so the encrypted password is in the /tcb/files/auth/*/username file. (Where '*' is the first letter of the 'username' and 'username' is the actual user name.)

2) The system is using a shadow file and the password is actually in /etc/shadow.

3) The password is set to '*' intentionally effectively locking out the user.

[Laurent Menase]

nologin or shadow password
if the system is trusted, then shadow
else no login

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi:

As a general comment, section-4 of the HP-UX manpages is devoted to file format descriptions. When askiung about the meaning of various fields in files, this is the best place to begin. This is why Patrick directed you to that section by issuing 'man 4 passwd'.

Regards!

...JRF...

[djoshi]

Thx all