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PWCK(8)			  System Management Commands		       PWCK(8)

NAME
       pwck - verify integrity of password files

SYNOPSIS
       pwck [-q] [-s] [passwd shadow]

       pwck [-q] [-r] [passwd shadow]

DESCRIPTION
       pwck verifies the integrity of the system authentication information.
       All entries in the /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow are checked to see that
       the entry has the proper format and valid data in each field. The user
       is prompted to delete entries that are improperly formatted or which
       have other uncorrectable errors.

       Checks are made to verify that each entry has:

       ·  the correct number of fields

       ·  a unique user name

       ·  a valid user and group identifier

       ·  a valid primary group

       ·  a valid home directory

       ·  a valid login shell

The checks for correct number of fields and unique user name are fatal. If the
entry has the wrong number of fields, the user will be prompted to delete the
entire line. If the user does not answer affirmatively, all further checks are
bypassed. An entry with a duplicated user name is prompted for deletion, but
the remaining checks will still be made. All other errors are warning and the
user is encouraged to run the usermod command to correct the error.

The commands which operate on the /etc/passwd file are not able to alter
corrupted or duplicated entries.  pwck should be used in those circumstances
to remove the offending entry.

OPTIONS
       The options which apply to the pwck command are:

       -q Report errors only. The warnings which do not require any action
	  from the user won't be displayed.

       -r Execute the pwck command in read-only mode.

       -s Sort entries in /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow by UID.

       By default, pwck operates on the files /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow. The
       user may select alternate files with the passwd and shadow parameters.

FILES
       /etc/group
	  Group account information.

       /etc/passwd
	  User account information.

       /etc/shadow
	  Secure user account information.

SEE ALSO
       group(5), passwd(5), shadow(5), usermod(8).

EXIT VALUES
       The pwck command exits with the following values:

       0  success

       1  invalid command syntax

       2  one or more bad password entries

       3  can't open password files

       4  can't lock password files

       5  can't update password files

System Management Commands	  06/24/2006			       PWCK(8)

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