NAME

       yppasswd, ypchfn, ypchsh - change your password in the NIS database

SYNOPSIS

       yppasswd [-f] [-l] [-p] [user]
       ypchfn [user]
       ypchsh [user]

DESCRIPTION

       In  the  old  days,  the  standard  passwd(1), chfn(1) and chsh(1) tools could not be used under Linux to
       change the users NIS password, shell and GECOS information. For changing the NIS information,  they  were
       replaced by their NIS counterparts, yppasswd, ypchfn and ypchsh.

       Today, this versions are deprecated and should not be used any longer.

       Using  the command line switches, you can choose whether to update your password -p, your login shell -l,
       or your GECOS field -f, or a combination of them.  yppasswd implies the -p option, if no other option  is
       given.  If  you use the -f or -l option, you also need to add the -p flag.  ypchfn implies the -f option,
       and ypchsh -l.

       When invoked without the user argument, the account information for the invoking user  will  be  updated,
       otherwise that of user will be updated. This option is only available to the super-user. If the yppasswdd
       daemon on the server supports it, you can give the root password of the server instead of the users [old]
       password.

       All  tools  will  first  prompt  the user for the current NIS password needed for authentication with the
       yppasswdd(8) daemon. Subsequently, the program prompts for the updated information:

       yppasswd or -p
              Change the user's NIS password.    The user is prompted for the new password.   While  typing  the
              password,  echoing is turned off, so the password does not appear on the screen. An empty password
              is rejected, as are passwords shorter than six characters. The user  will  then  be  requested  to
              retype the password to make sure it wasn't    misspelled the first time.

       ypchsh or -l
              Change  the  user's  login  shell.  The  user is prompted for a new shell, offering the old one as
              default:

                Login shell [/bin/sh]: _

              To accept the default, simply press return. To clear the shell field in your passwd(5) file  entry
              (so that the system's default shell is selected), enter the string none.

       ypchfn or -f
              Change  the  user's full name and related information. Traditionally, some applications expect the
              GECOS field (field 4) of the passwd(5) file to contain the user's real name  (as  opposed  to  the
              login  name)  plus  some  additional information like the office phone number. This information is
              displayed by finger(1) and probably some other tools, too.

              When setting the full name, ypchfn displays the following prompts, with the defaults in brackets:

                Name [Joe Doe]:
                Location [2nd floor, bldg 34]:
                Office Phone [12345]:
                Home Phone []:

              To accept a default, simply press return. To clear a field, enter the string none.

SEE ALSO

       chfn(1), chsh(1), finger(1), passwd(5), passwd(1), ypcat(1), yppasswdd(8), ypserv(8), ypwhich(1)

AUTHOR

       yppasswd is part of the yp-tools package, which was written by Thorsten Kukuk <kukuk@linux-nis.org>.