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Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2005 15:36:53 -0700
To: "Chris St Denis" <chris@aebc.com>, <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG>
From: Paul Hoffman <phoffman@proper.com>
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Subject: RE: What does an * in master.passwd (not passwd) mean?
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At 3:27 PM -0700 9/16/05, Chris St Denis wrote:
>It means an account that can not be logged in to.
>
>The in the hash algorithm used in master.password nothing encrypts to * so
>no possible password will ever match the encrypted value * thus locking out
>the account from login.

Arrrgh. Whomever decided to use the same character for "password not 
shown in passwd" and "cannot ever log in in master.passwd" should be, 
well, punished somehow.

Thanks, this makes perfect sense. I'll craft up a short explanation 
for the man page and send in a pr.