MAN page from OpenSuSE pwdutils-3.2.5-2.4.1.x86_64.rpm

chage

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: November 2005
Index

NAME

chage - change user password expiry information

SYNOPSIS

chage [-D binddn] [-P path] [-m mindays]: [-M maxdays] [-d lastday] [-I inactive][-E expiredate] [-W warndays] user
chage -l [user]

DESCRIPTION

chage is used to list and change the password expiry informationof a user. It allows the system administrator to change the number ofdays between allowed and required password changes and the date of thelast password change. It allows also to define when an account willexpire. The chage command is restricted to the system administrator,except for the -l option, which may be used by an user to determinewhen his password or account is due to expire.

If no option is given, chage operates in an interactive mode, promptingthe user with the current values for all of the fields. Enter the newvalue to change the field, or leave the line blank to use the currentvalue. If the users exists in the local passwd file, but not inthe local shadow file, chage will create a new entry in theshadow file.

OPTIONS

-D, --binddn binddn: Use the Distinguished Name binddn to bind to the LDAP directory.The user will be prompted for a password for simple authentication.
-P, --path path: The passwd and shadow files are located belowthe specified directory path. chage will use this files,not /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow.This is useful for example on NIS master servers, where you donot want to give all users in the NIS database automatic accessto your NIS server and the NIS map is build from special files.
-l, --list: This option will list the password expiry information in a humanreadable format. The user will see the date when he changed thepassword the last time, when the password will be expire, when thepassword will be locked and when the account will expire.
-m, --mindays mindays: With this option the minimum number of days between passwordchanges is changed. A value of zero for this field indicates thatthe user may change her password at any time. Else the user will not bepermitted to change the password until min days have elapsed.
-M, --maxdays maxdays: With this option the maximum number of days during which apassword is valid is changed. When maxdays plus lastdayis less than the current day, the user will be required to changehis password before being able to use the account.
-d, --lastday lastday: With this option the date when the password was last changed canbe set to another value. lastday has to be specified asnumber of days since January 1st, 1970. The date may also beexpressed in the format YYYY-MM-DD. If supported by the system,a value of zero forces the user to change the password at nextlogin.
-E, --expiredate expiredate: With this option the date when the account will be expired canbe changed. expiredate has to be specified as number ofdays since January 1st, 1970. The date may also be expressed inthe format YYYY-MM-DD.
-I, --inactive inactive: This option is used to set the number of days of inactivity aftera password has expired before the account is locked. A user whoseaccount is locked must contact the system administrator beforebeing able to use the account again.A value of -1 disables this feature.
-W, --warndays warndays: With this option the number of days of warning before a passwordchange is required can be changed. This option is the number ofdays prior to the password expiring that a user will be warnedthe password is about to expire.

FILES

passwd - user account information
shadow - shadow user account information

AUTHOR

Thorsten Kukuk <kukukAATTsuse.de>

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