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Linux Shadow Password HOWTO

Michael H. Jackson, mhjack@tscnet.com

v1.3, 3 April 1996

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This document aims to describe how to obtain, install, and configure the Linux password Shadow Suite. It also discusses obtaining, and re]installing other software and network daemons that require access to user passwords. This other software is not actually part of the Shadow Suite, but these programs will need to be recompiled to support the Shadow Suite. This document also contains a programming example for adding shadow support to a program. Answers to some of the more frequently asked questions are included near the end of this document.

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1. Introduction.

• 1.1 Changes from the previous release.
• 1.2 New versions of this document.
• 1.3 Feedback.

2. Why shadow your passwd file?

• 2.1 Why you might NOT want to shadow your passwd file.
• 2.2 Format of the /etc/passwd file
• 2.3 Format of the shadow file
• 2.4 Review of crypt(3).

3. Getting the Shadow Suite.

• 3.1 History of the Shadow Suite for Linux
• 3.2 Where to get the Shadow Suite.
• 3.3 What is included with the Shadow Suite.

4. Compiling the programs.

• 4.1 Unpacking the archive.
• 4.2 Configuring with the config.h file
• 4.3 Making backup copies of your original programs.
• 4.4 Running make

5. Installing

• 5.1 Have a boot disk handy in case you break anything.
• 5.2 Removing duplicate man pages
• 5.3 Running make install
• 5.4 Running pwconv
• 5.5 Renaming npasswd and nshadow

6. Other programs you may need to upgrade or patch

• 6.1 Slackware adduser program
• 6.2 The wu_ftpd Server
• 6.3 Standard ftpd
• 6.4 pop3d (Post Office Protocol 3)
• 6.5 xlock
• 6.6 xdm
• 6.7 sudo
• 6.8 imapd (E-Mail pine package])
• 6.9 pppd (Point-to-Point Protocol Server)

  7. Putting the Shadow Suite to use.

  • 7.1 Adding, Modifying, and deleting users
  • 7.2 The passwd command and passwd aging.
  • 7.3 The login.defs file.
  • 7.4 Group passwords.
  • 7.5 Consistency checking programs
  • 7.6 Dial-up passwords.

    8. Adding shadow support to a C program

    • 8.1 Header files
    • 8.2 libshadow.a library
    • 8.3 Shadow Structure
    • 8.4 Shadow Functions
    • 8.5 Example

      9. Frequently Asked Questions.

      10. Copyright Message.

      11. Miscellaneous and Acknowledgments.

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