CHAGE(1)                                                 CHAGE(1)

NAME
       chage - change user password expiry information

SYNOPSIS
       chage [-m mindays] [-M maxdays] [-d lastday] [-I inactive]
             [-E expiredate] [-W warndays] user

       chage -l user

DESCRIPTION
       chage changes the number of days between password  changes
       and  the  date of the last password change.  This informa-
       tion is used by the system to determine when a  user  must
       change  her  password.  The chage command is restricted to
       the root user, except for the -l option, which may be used
       by  an unprivileged user to determine when her password or
       account is due to expire.

       With the -m option, the value of mindays  is  the  minimum
       number  of days between password changes.  A value of zero
       for this field indicates that  the  user  may  change  her
       password at any time.

       With  the  -M  option, the value of maxdays is the maximum
       number of days during which a  password  is  valid.   When
       maxdays  plus  lastday  is  less than the current day, the
       user will be required to change her password before  being
       able  to  use  her account.  This occurance can be planned
       for in advance by use of the -W option, which provides the
       user with advance warning.

       With  the -d option, the value of lastday is the number of
       days since January 1st, 1970 when the  password  was  last
       changed.   The  date  may  also be expressed in the format
       MM/DD/YY (or the format more commonly used in your  area).

       The  -E  option  is used to set a date on which the user's
       account will no  longer  be  accessible.   The  expiredate
       option  is  the  number  of  days since January 1, 1970 on
       which the accounted is  locked.   The  date  may  also  be
       expressed  in the format MM/DD/YY (or the format more com-
       monly used in your area).  A user whose account is  locked
       must contact the system administrator before being able to
       use the system again.

       The -I option is used to set the number of days  of  inac-
       tivity  after a password has expired before the account is
       locked.  A user whose account is locked must  contact  the
       system  administrator  before being able to use the system
       again.  The inactive option is the number of days of inac-
       tivity. A value of 0 disables this feature.

       The -W option is used to set the number of days of warning
       before a password change is required.  The warndays option
       is  the number of days prior to the password expiring that
       a user will be warned her password is about to expire.

       All of the above values are stored exactly  as  days  when
       the shadow password file is used, but are converted to and
       from weeks  when  the  standard  password  file  is  used.
       Because of this conversion, rounding errors may result.

       If  none of the options are selected, chage operates in an
       interactive fashion, prompting the user with  the  current
       values  for  all  of  the  fields.  Enter the new value to
       change the field, or leave the line blank to use the  cur-
       rent value.  The current value is displayed between a pair
       of [ ] marks.

FILES
       /etc/passwd - user account information
       /etc/shadow - shadow user account information

SEE ALSO
       passwd(5), shadow(5)

AUTHOR
       Julianne Frances Haugh (jfh@tab.com)

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