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@suse.de>.