---
name: "pam_pwdb"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "libpam0g-util"
version: "0.57b-0.2"
release: "Debian 2.0 (Hamm)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/pam_pwdb"
---

# pam\_pwdb(8)

PAM authentication module

## NAME

pam\_pwdb - PAM authentication module

## DESCRIPTION

This is the pam\_unix module. It has been significantly rewritten since now takes more options and correctly updates vanilla UNIX/shadow/md5 passwords.

\[Please read the source and make a note of all the warnings there, as the license suggests -- use at your own risk.\]

So far as I am concerned this module is now pretty stable. If you find any bugs, PLEASE tell me! \<morgan@parc.power.net\>

Options recognized by this module are as follows:

        debug		-	log more debugging info\
         use\_first\_pass	-	don't prompt the user for passwords\
         			take them from PAM\_ items instead\
         try\_first\_pass  -	don't prompt the user for the passwords\
         			unless PAM\_(OLD)AUTHTOK is unset\
         use\_authtok	-	like try\_first\_pass, but \*fail\* if the new\
         			PAM\_AUTHTOK has not been previously set.\
         			(intended for stacking password modules only)\
         not\_set\_pass    -	don't set the PAM\_ items with the passwords\
         			used by this module.\
         shadow          -       try to maintian a shadow based system. This\
         			option requires HAVE\_SHADOW\_H is defined when\
         			the module is compiled (see top level makefile)\
         			Also, note that the libc you are using must\
         			support shadow.\
         md5		-	when a user changes their password next,\
         			encrypt it with the md5 algorithm.\
         nodelay		-	used to prevent failed authentication\
         			resulting in a delay of about 1 second.

There is some support for building a shadow file on-the-fly from an /etc/passwd file. This is VERY alpha. If you want to play with it you should read the source to find the appropriate #define that you will need.

\--------------------- Andrew Morgan \<morgan@parc.power.net\>