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.TH UPDATE\-PASSWD 8 "September 6" "Debian Project" "Debian GNU/Linux manual"
.\" NAME should be all caps, SECTION should be 1-8, maybe w/ subsection
.\" other parms are allowed: see man(7), man(1)
.SH NAME
update-passwd \- safely update /etc/passwd and /etc/group databases
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B update-passwd
.I "[options] ..."
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.B update\-passwd
handles updates of /etc/passwd and /etc/group on running Debian systems.
It compares the current /etc/passwd and group files to master copies,
usually distributed in updates of the base\-passwd package, and updates
all entries in the global system range (that is, 0\-99).
.SH OPTIONS
.B update\-passwd
follows the usual GNU command line syntax, with long
options starting with two dashes (`-').
.TP
.B \-g, \-\-group-master=FILE
Use FILE as the master group database, instead of the default. Really
only useful for debugging purposes.
.TP
.B \-p, \-\-passwd-master=FILE
Use FILE as the master password database, instead of the default. Also
for debugging.
.TP
.B \-q, \-\-quiet
Don't display any messages about changes being made. Note that this will
not supress error messages, however.
.TP
.B \-s, \-\-sanity\-check
Perform a quick test on the system's group and paswd files before changing
anything.
.B update\-passwd
expects the global system entries to be at the beginning of each database,
in numerical order. If this isn't the case, the sanity check will report
an error and no changes will be made. \-\-sanity\-check should
.B always
be used when invoked in scripts on unfamiliar systems.
.TP
.B \-\-help
Show summary of options.
.TP
.B \-\-version
Show version of program.
.SH FILES
Unless otherwise specified, the password and group master files are
/usr/share/base-passwd/passwd.master and /usr/share/base-passwd/group.master,
respectively.
.SH BUGS
.B update\-passwd
is not very smart yet. It only updates the databases, it makes no attempt
to assure system consistency. If a uid/gid you're using on your system is
eliminated or changed, it could cause trouble.
.SH AUTHOR
Galen Hazelwood <galenh@micron.net>
.PP
This program was written
for the Debian Linux distribution, and is Copyright (C) 1997
Software in the Public Interest. It is distributed under the GNU
General Public License.
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