pwd_mkdb creates
db(3) style secure and insecure databases for the specified file. These databases are then installed into “
/etc/spwd.db” and “
/etc/pwd.db” respectively. The file is installed into “
/etc/master.passwd”. The file must be in the correct format (see
passwd(5)). It is important to note that the format used in this system is different from the historic Version 7 style format.
The options are as follows:
-B
Store data in big-endian format (see also -L).
-c cachesize
Specify the size of the memory cache in megabytes used by the hashing library. On systems with a large user base, a small cache size can lead to prohibitively long database file rebuild times. As a rough guide, the memory usage of pwd_mkdb in megabytes will be a little bit more than twice the figure specified here. If unspecified, this value will be calculated based on the size of the input file up to a maximum of 8 megabytes.
-d directory
Change the root directory of the generated files from “/” to directory.
-L
Store data in little-endian format (see also -B).
-p
Create a Version 7 style password file and install it into “/etc/passwd”.
-s
Update the secure database only. This is useful when only encrypted passwords have changed. This option negates the effect of any -p option.
-u name
Don't re-build the database files, but instead modify or add entries for the specified user only. This option may only be used when the line number and user name in the password file have not changed, or when adding a new user from the last line in the password file.
-V version
Upgrade or downgrade databases to the numbered version. Version 0 is the old format (up to and including NetBSD 5.0) with the 4 byte time fields and version 1 is the new format with the 8 byte time fields (greater than NetBSD 5.0). NetBSD 5.0 cannot read version 1 databases. All versions above NetBSD 5.0 can read and write both version 0 and version 1 databases. By default the databases stay in the version they were before the command was run.
-v
Mention when a version change occurs.
-w
Print a warning if the system is using old style databases.
The two databases differ in that the secure version contains the user's encrypted password and the insecure version has an asterisk (“*”).
The databases are used by the C library password routines (see
getpwent(3)).