---
name: "conserver.passwd"
section: "5"
platform: "linux"
package: "conserver-server"
version: "8.2.7-3"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/conserver.passwd"
---

# conserver.passwd(5)

user access information for conserver(8)

## NAME

conserver.passwd - user access information for [**conserver**(8)](/conserver/8.md)

## SYNOPSIS

*username***:***password*

## DESCRIPTION

The **conserver.passwd** file is the user authentication and authorization file for [**conserver**(8)](/conserver/8.md). Upon each incoming client connection, **conserver** opens and reads the **conserver.passwd** file, so edits to the file take effect immediately. It reads only until the first *username* match.

Blank lines and comment lines (those beginning with a \`\`#'' and optional leading whitespace) are ignored. Non-ignored lines beginning with whitespace are considered continuations of the previous line. This allows you to span one logical line over many physical lines and insert comments wherever appropriate.

Each logical line consists of two colon-separated fields. Leading and trailing white space in each field is ignored.

- *username*

  the login name of the authorized user, or the string \`\`**\*any\***'' to match any user. This is compared against the name sent by the **console** client, based either on the user's identity or on the **-l option.** Since **conserver** only uses the first *username* match, a \`\`**\*any\***'' entry will apply to any user without an entry earlier in the file.

- *password*

  the encrypted password, or the string \`\`**\*passwd\***'' to indicate that **conserver** should look up the user's password in the system **passwd** (or **shadow**) database. If PAM support has been enabled (**--with-pam**), PAM lookups will be done instead of **passwd** (or **shadow**) lookups (you may need to edit /etc/pam.conf or create /etc/pam.d/conserver). If this field is empty, password checking is bypassed for this user.

## EXAMPLE

- **mary:r71mXjfALB5Ak**

  Mary uses the password specified above; it does not matter whether she has a login on the conserver host.

- **fred:\*passwd\***

  Fred may connect only with his regular login password on the conserver host.

- **bozo:\***

  Bozo is only allowed to access a console if his password isn't used (since it's invalid) which means he needs to come from a **trusted** host.

- **\*any\*:\*passwd\***

  Anyone not listed above uses their regular login and password.

## SEE ALSO

[**console**(1)](/console/1.md), [**conserver.cf**(5)](/conserver.cf/5.md), [**conserver**(8)](/conserver/8.md)

## BUGS

There is currently no way provided by the conserver package to generate the encrypted password strings besides copying them from the system **passwd** database or running [**crypt**(3)](/crypt/3.md) via C or perl or some other language that supports it.