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LOGIN.DEFS(5)		 File Formats and Conversions		 LOGIN.DEFS(5)

NAME
       login.defs - shadow password suite configuration

DESCRIPTION
       The /etc/login.defs file defines the site-specific configuration for
       the shadow password suite. This file is required. Absence of this file
       will not prevent system operation, but will probably result in
       undesirable operation.

       This file is a readable text file, each line of the file describing one
       configuration parameter. The lines consist of a configuration name and
       value, separated by whitespace. Blank lines and comment lines are
       ignored. Comments are introduced with a "#" pound sign and the pound
       sign must be the first non-white character of the line.

       Parameter values may be of four types: strings, booleans, numbers, and
       long numbers. A string is comprised of any printable characters. A
       boolean should be either the value yes or no. An undefined boolean
       parameter or one with a value other than these will be given a no
       value. Numbers (both regular and long) may be either decimal values,
       octal values (precede the value with 0) or hexadecimal values (precede
       the value with 0x). The maximum value of the regular and long numeric
       parameters is machine-dependent.

       The following configuration items are provided:

       CHFN_RESTRICT (string)
	   This parameter specifies which values in the gecos field of the
	   /etc/passwd file may be changed by regular users using the chfn
	   program. It can be any combination of letters f, r, w, h, for Full
	   name, Room number, Work phone, and Home phone, respectively. For
	   backward compatibility, yes is equivalent to rwh and no is
	   equivalent to frwh. If not specified, only the superuser can make
	   any changes. The most restrictive setting is better achieved by not
	   installing chfn SUID.

       CONSOLE_GROUPS (string)
	   List of groups to add to the user's supplementary groups set when
	   logging in on the console (as determined by the CONSOLE setting).
	   Default is none.

	   Use with caution - it is possible for users to gain permanent
	   access to these groups, even when not logged in on the console.

       CREATE_HOME (boolean)
	   Indicate if a home directory should be created by default for new
	   users.

	   This setting does not apply to system users, and can be overridden
	   on the command line.

       DEFAULT_HOME (boolean)
	   Indicate if login is allowed if we can't cd to the home directory.
	   Default is no.

	   If set to yes, the user will login in the root (/) directory if it
	   is not possible to cd to her home directory.

       ENCRYPT_METHOD (string)
	   This defines the system default encryption algorithm for encrypting
	   passwords (if no algorithm are specified on the command line).

	   It can take one of these values: DES (default), MD5, SHA256,
	   SHA512.

	   Note: this parameter overrides the MD5_CRYPT_ENAB variable.

	   Note: This only affect the generation of group passwords. The
	   generation of user passwords is done by PAM and subject to the PAM
	   configuration. It is recommended to set this variable consistently
	   with the PAM configuration.

       ENV_HZ (string)
	   If set, it will be used to define the HZ environment variable when
	   a user login. The value must be preceded by HZ=. A common value on
	   Linux is HZ=100.

	   The HZ environment variable is only set when the user (the
	   superuser) logs in with sulogin.

       ENV_PATH (string)
	   If set, it will be used to define the PATH environment variable
	   when a regular user login. The value is a colon separated list of
	   paths (for example /bin:/usr/bin) and can be preceded by PATH=. The
	   default value is PATH=/bin:/usr/bin.

       ENV_SUPATH (string)
	   If set, it will be used to define the PATH environment variable
	   when the superuser login. The value is a colon separated list of
	   paths (for example /sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin) and can be
	   preceded by PATH=. The default value is
	   PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin.

       ERASECHAR (number)
	   Terminal ERASE character (010 = backspace, 0177 = DEL).

	   The value can be prefixed "0" for an octal value, or "0x" for an
	   hexadecimal value.

       FAIL_DELAY (number)
	   Delay in seconds before being allowed another attempt after a login
	   failure.

       FAKE_SHELL (string)
	   If set, login will execute this shell instead of the users' shell
	   specified in /etc/passwd.

       GID_MAX (number), GID_MIN (number)
	   Range of group IDs used for the creation of regular groups by
	   useradd, groupadd, or newusers.

	   The default value for GID_MIN (resp.	 GID_MAX) is 1000 (resp.
	   60000).

       HUSHLOGIN_FILE (string)
	   If defined, this file can inhibit all the usual chatter during the
	   login sequence. If a full pathname is specified, then hushed mode
	   will be enabled if the user's name or shell are found in the file.
	   If not a full pathname, then hushed mode will be enabled if the
	   file exists in the user's home directory.

       KILLCHAR (number)
	   Terminal KILL character (025 = CTRL/U).

	   The value can be prefixed "0" for an octal value, or "0x" for an
	   hexadecimal value.

       LOG_OK_LOGINS (boolean)
	   Enable logging of successful logins.

       LOG_UNKFAIL_ENAB (boolean)
	   Enable display of unknown usernames when login failures are
	   recorded.

	   Note: logging unknown usernames may be a security issue if an user
	   enter her password instead of her login name.

       LOGIN_RETRIES (number)
	   Maximum number of login retries in case of bad password.

	   This will most likely be overridden by PAM, since the default
	   pam_unix module has its own built in of 3 retries. However, this is
	   a safe fallback in case you are using an authentication module that
	   does not enforce PAM_MAXTRIES.

       LOGIN_TIMEOUT (number)
	   Max time in seconds for login.

       MAIL_DIR (string)
	   The mail spool directory. This is needed to manipulate the mailbox
	   when its corresponding user account is modified or deleted. If not
	   specified, a compile-time default is used.

       MAIL_FILE (string)
	   Defines the location of the users mail spool files relatively to
	   their home directory.

       The MAIL_DIR and MAIL_FILE variables are used by useradd, usermod, and
       userdel to create, move, or delete the user's mail spool.

       MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP (number)
	   Maximum members per group entry. When the maximum is reached, a new
	   group entry (line) is started in /etc/group (with the same name,
	   same password, and same GID).

	   The default value is 0, meaning that there are no limits in the
	   number of members in a group.

	   This feature (split group) permits to limit the length of lines in
	   the group file. This is useful to make sure that lines for NIS
	   groups are not larger than 1024 characters.

	   If you need to enforce such limit, you can use 25.

	   Note: split groups may not be supported by all tools (even in the
	   Shadow toolsuite). You should not use this variable unless you
	   really need it.

       MD5_CRYPT_ENAB (boolean)
	   Indicate if passwords must be encrypted using the MD5-based
	   algorithm. If set to yes, new passwords will be encrypted using the
	   MD5-based algorithm compatible with the one used by recent releases
	   of FreeBSD. It supports passwords of unlimited length and longer
	   salt strings. Set to no if you need to copy encrypted passwords to
	   other systems which don't understand the new algorithm. Default is
	   no.

	   This variable is superseded by the ENCRYPT_METHOD variable or by
	   any command line option used to configure the encryption algorithm.

	   This variable is deprecated. You should use ENCRYPT_METHOD.

	   Note: This only affect the generation of group passwords. The
	   generation of user passwords is done by PAM and subject to the PAM
	   configuration. It is recommended to set this variable consistently
	   with the PAM configuration.

       PASS_MAX_DAYS (number)
	   The maximum number of days a password may be used. If the password
	   is older than this, a password change will be forced. If not
	   specified, -1 will be assumed (which disables the restriction).

       PASS_MIN_DAYS (number)
	   The minimum number of days allowed between password changes. Any
	   password changes attempted sooner than this will be rejected. If
	   not specified, -1 will be assumed (which disables the restriction).

       PASS_WARN_AGE (number)
	   The number of days warning given before a password expires. A zero
	   means warning is given only upon the day of expiration, a negative
	   value means no warning is given. If not specified, no warning will
	   be provided.

       PASS_MAX_DAYS, PASS_MIN_DAYS and PASS_WARN_AGE are only used at the
       time of account creation. Any changes to these settings won't affect
       existing accounts.

       SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS (number), SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS (number)
	   When ENCRYPT_METHOD is set to SHA256 or SHA512, this defines the
	   number of SHA rounds used by the encryption algorithm by default
	   (when the number of rounds is not specified on the command line).

	   With a lot of rounds, it is more difficult to brute forcing the
	   password. But note also that more CPU resources will be needed to
	   authenticate users.

	   If not specified, the libc will choose the default number of rounds
	   (5000).

	   The values must be inside the 1000-999,999,999 range.

	   If only one of the SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS or SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS
	   values is set, then this value will be used.

	   If SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS > SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS, the highest value
	   will be used.

	   Note: This only affect the generation of group passwords. The
	   generation of user passwords is done by PAM and subject to the PAM
	   configuration. It is recommended to set this variable consistently
	   with the PAM configuration.

       SULOG_FILE (string)
	   If defined, all su activity is logged to this file.

       SU_NAME (string)
	   If defined, the command name to display when running "su -". For
	   example, if this is defined as "su" then a "ps" will display the
	   command is "-su". If not defined, then "ps" would display the name
	   of the shell actually being run, e.g. something like "-sh".

       SUB_GID_MIN (number), SUB_GID_MAX (number), SUB_GID_COUNT (number)
	   The commands useradd and newusers allocate SUB_GID_COUNT unused
	   group IDs from the range SUB_GID_MIN to SUB_GID_MAX for each new
	   user.

	   The default values for SUB_GID_MAN, SUB_GID_MIN, SUB_GID_COUNT are
	   respectively 100000, 600100000 and 10000.

       SUB_UID_MIN (number), SUB_UID_MAX (number), SUB_UID_COUNT (number)
	   The commands useradd and newusers allocate SUB_UID_COUNT unused
	   user IDs from the range SUB_UID_MIN to SUB_UID_MAX for each new
	   user.

	   The default values for SUB_GID_MAN, SUB_GID_MIN, SUB_GID_COUNT are
	   respectively 100000, 600100000 and 10000.

       SYS_GID_MAX (number), SYS_GID_MIN (number)
	   Range of group IDs used for the creation of system groups by
	   useradd, groupadd, or newusers.

	   The default value for SYS_GID_MIN (resp.  SYS_GID_MAX) is 101
	   (resp.  GID_MIN-1).

       SYS_UID_MAX (number), SYS_UID_MIN (number)
	   Range of user IDs used for the creation of system users by useradd
	   or newusers.

	   The default value for SYS_UID_MIN (resp.  SYS_UID_MAX) is 101
	   (resp.  UID_MIN-1).

       SYSLOG_SG_ENAB (boolean)
	   Enable "syslog" logging of sg activity.

       SYSLOG_SU_ENAB (boolean)
	   Enable "syslog" logging of su activity - in addition to sulog file
	   logging.

       TTYGROUP (string), TTYPERM (string)
	   The terminal permissions: the login tty will be owned by the
	   TTYGROUP group, and the permissions will be set to TTYPERM.

	   By default, the ownership of the terminal is set to the user's
	   primary group and the permissions are set to 0600.

	   TTYGROUP can be either the name of a group or a numeric group
	   identifier.

	   If you have a write program which is "setgid" to a special group
	   which owns the terminals, define TTYGROUP to the group number and
	   TTYPERM to 0620. Otherwise leave TTYGROUP commented out and assign
	   TTYPERM to either 622 or 600.

       TTYTYPE_FILE (string)
	   If defined, file which maps tty line to TERM environment parameter.
	   Each line of the file is in a format something like "vt100 tty01".

       UID_MAX (number), UID_MIN (number)
	   Range of user IDs used for the creation of regular users by useradd
	   or newusers.

	   The default value for UID_MIN (resp.	 UID_MAX) is 1000 (resp.
	   60000).

       UMASK (number)
	   The file mode creation mask is initialized to this value. If not
	   specified, the mask will be initialized to 022.

	   useradd and newusers use this mask to set the mode of the home
	   directory they create

	   It is also used by pam_umask as the default umask value.

       USERDEL_CMD (string)
	   If defined, this command is run when removing a user. It should
	   remove any at/cron/print jobs etc. owned by the user to be removed
	   (passed as the first argument).

	   The return code of the script is not taken into account.

	   Here is an example script, which removes the user's cron, at and
	   print jobs:

	       #! /bin/sh

	       # Check for the required argument.
	       if [ $# != 1 ]; then
		    echo "Usage: $0 username"
		    exit 1
	       fi

	       # Remove cron jobs.
	       crontab -r -u $1

	       # Remove at jobs.
	       # Note that it will remove any jobs owned by the same UID,
	       # even if it was shared by a different username.
	       AT_SPOOL_DIR=/var/spool/cron/atjobs
	       find $AT_SPOOL_DIR -name "[^.]*" -type f -user $1 -delete \;

	       # Remove print jobs.
	       lprm $1

	       # All done.
	       exit 0

       USERGROUPS_ENAB (boolean)
	   If set to yes, userdel will remove the user's group if it contains
	   no more members, and useradd will create by default a group with
	   the name of the user.

CROSS REFERENCES
       The following cross references show which programs in the shadow
       password suite use which parameters.

       chfn
	   CHFN_RESTRICT

       chgpasswd
	   ENCRYPT_METHOD MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP MD5_CRYPT_ENAB
	   SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS

       chpasswd
	   SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS

       gpasswd
	   ENCRYPT_METHOD MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP MD5_CRYPT_ENAB
	   SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS

       groupadd
	   GID_MAX GID_MIN MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP SYS_GID_MAX SYS_GID_MIN

       groupdel
	   MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP

       groupmems
	   MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP

       groupmod
	   MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP

       grpck
	   MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP

       grpconv
	   MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP

       grpunconv
	   MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP

       login
	   CONSOLE_GROUPS DEFAULT_HOME ERASECHAR FAIL_DELAY FAKE_SHELL
	   HUSHLOGIN_FILE KILLCHAR LOGIN_RETRIES LOGIN_TIMEOUT LOG_OK_LOGINS
	   LOG_UNKFAIL_ENAB TTYGROUP TTYPERM TTYTYPE_FILE USERGROUPS_ENAB

       newgrp / sg
	   SYSLOG_SG_ENAB

       newusers
	   ENCRYPT_METHOD GID_MAX GID_MIN MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP MD5_CRYPT_ENAB
	   PASS_MAX_DAYS PASS_MIN_DAYS PASS_WARN_AGE SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS
	   SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS SUB_GID_COUNT SUB_GID_MAX SUB_GID_MIN
	   SUB_UID_COUNT SUB_UID_MAX SUB_UID_MIN SYS_GID_MAX SYS_GID_MIN
	   SYS_UID_MAX SYS_UID_MIN UID_MAX UID_MIN UMASK

       pwck
	   PASS_MAX_DAYS PASS_MIN_DAYS PASS_WARN_AGE

       pwconv
	   PASS_MAX_DAYS PASS_MIN_DAYS PASS_WARN_AGE

       su
	   CONSOLE_GROUPS DEFAULT_HOME ENV_PATH ENV_SUPATH SULOG_FILE SU_NAME
	   SYSLOG_SU_ENAB

       sulogin
	   ENV_HZ

       useradd
	   CREATE_HOME GID_MAX GID_MIN MAIL_DIR MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP
	   PASS_MAX_DAYS PASS_MIN_DAYS PASS_WARN_AGE SUB_GID_COUNT SUB_GID_MAX
	   SUB_GID_MIN SUB_UID_COUNT SUB_UID_MAX SUB_UID_MIN SYS_GID_MAX
	   SYS_GID_MIN SYS_UID_MAX SYS_UID_MIN UID_MAX UID_MIN UMASK

       userdel
	   MAIL_DIR MAIL_FILE MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP USERDEL_CMD
	   USERGROUPS_ENAB

       usermod
	   MAIL_DIR MAIL_FILE MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP

BUGS
       Much of the functionality that used to be provided by the shadow
       password suite is now handled by PAM. Thus, /etc/login.defs is no
       longer used by passwd(1), or less used by login(1), and su(1). Please
       refer to the corresponding PAM configuration files instead.

SEE ALSO
       login(1), passwd(1), su(1), passwd(5), shadow(5), pam(8).

shadow-utils 4.1.5.1		  02/17/2014			 LOGIN.DEFS(5)
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