yppasswd(1)                                           yppasswd(1)

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

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

DESCRIPTION
       The standard passwd(1), chfn(1) and chsh(1) cannot be used
       under  Linux  to  change the users NIS password, shell and
       GECOS information, because they only modify  the  password
       file on the local host.  For changing the NIS information,
       they are replaced by  their  NIS  counterparts,  yppasswd,
       ypchfn and ypchsh.

       These  commands  are the same program, linked to different
       names.  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 infor-
       mation  for  the  invoking user will be updated, otherwise
       that of user will be updated. This option is  only  avail-
       able  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 -l
              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 charac-
              ters. 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 informa-
              tion. Traditionally, some applications  expect  the
              GECOS field (field 4) of the passwd(5) file to con-
              tain 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  writ-
       ten by Thorsten Kukuk <kukuk@vt.uni-paderborn.de>.

YP Tools 2.2                 May 1998                           1