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shadow - shadow password file
/etc/shadow
The shadow file provides more secure storage for the user's
password (which would otherwise be in /etc/passwd). When
the password field of an entry in /etc/passwd is empty,
/etc/shadow must contain a corresponding entry with the same
user name but a non-empty encrypted password.
username:password:
Required fields:
- username
- The user's login name, not more than eight
characters.
- password
- The user's password, in an encrypted form
that is generated by the UNIX passwd function.
There can be other fields in the /etc/shadow file following
the ":" after the password.
Here is a sample shadow password file entry:
dave:Qs5I6pBb2rJDA:
na_passwd(5), na_options(1), na_nis(8), na_pcnfsd(8),
na_nsswitch.conf(5)
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