pwck(1M)                                                              pwck(1M)


NAME
     pwck - password file checker

SYNOPSIS
     pwck [[-p] file]

DESCRIPTION
     pwck scans the password file and notes any inconsistencies.  The checks
     include validation of: the number of fields, login name, user ID, group
     ID, and whether the login directory and the program-to-use-as-Shell
     exist.  The default password file is /etc/passwd.

     pwck has the ability to parse YP entries in the password file.

     The -p option prevents checking of the login directory and shell fields,
     useful for NIS administrators in checking the yppasswd file, where each
     login directory is not usually locally available.

FILES
     /etc/passwd

SEE ALSO
     passwd(4).

DIAGNOSTICS
     Too many/few fields
          An entry in the password file does not have the proper number of
          fields.

     Logname field null
          The login name field of an entry is empty.

     Bad character(s) in logname
          The login name in an entry contains one or more non-standard
          characters.  Standard characters consist of alphanumeric characters
          and the period, underscore and hyphen characters.

     Logname too long/short
          The login name in an entry has more than 8 characters.

     Invalid UID
          The user ID field in an entry is not numeric or is greater than
          2147483647.  (Note that if the UID is > 65535, then files can not be
          created on EFS filesystems.)

     Invalid GID
          The group ID field in an entry is not numeric or is greater than
          2147483647.  (Note that if the GID is > 65535, then files can not be
          created on EFS filesystems.)


     Login directory null
          The login directory field in an entry is empty.

     Login directory not found
          The login directory field in an entry refers to a directory that
          does not exist.

     Login directory illegal, try pathchk(1)
          The login directory field in an entry refers to an illegal directory
          name.  Try running pathchk(1) on the login directory name.

     Optional shell file not found
          The login shell field in an entry refers to a program or shell
          script that does not exist.

     Optional shell file not found, try pathchk(1)"
          The login shell field in an entry refers to a program or shell
          script with an illegal path name.  Try running pathchk(1) on the
          login shell file name.

     No netgroup name
          The entry is a Yellow Pages entry referring to a netgroup, but no
          netgroup is present.

     Bad character(s) in netgroup name
          The netgroup name in a Yellow Pages entry contains characters other
          than lower-case letters and digits.

     First char in netgroup name not lower case alpha
          The netgroup name in a Yellow pages entry does not begin with a
          lowercase letter.


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