Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2003 07:12:49 +0100 From: Jez Hancock <jez.hancock@munk.nu> To: FreeBSD questions List <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Using pw adduser to set password in a script Message-ID: <20030701061249.GA98559@users.munk.nu>
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I'm attempting to use pw adduser to add a new user to the system and
would like confirmation that the following is the correct way to set
the user's password at the same time:
echo "password" | \
pw adduser -q -h - -u user -g group -s shell -d /home/user -c comment
Can anyone also tell me the security implications of doing this, given
that the command is executed from a within a script (actually php but
this is more-or-less irrelevant)?
Is there a better way to do this using file descriptors as described in
the man page for pw?:
-h fd This option provides a special interface by which interac-
tive scripts can set an account password using pw. Because
the command line and environment are fundamentally insecure
mechanisms by which programs can accept information, pw
will only allow setting of account and group passwords via
a file descriptor (usually a pipe between an interactive
script and the program). sh, bash, ksh and perl all pos-
sess mechanisms by which this can be done. Alternatively,
pw will prompt for the user's password if -h 0 is given,
nominating stdin as the file descriptor on which to read
the password. Note that this password will be read only
once and is intended for use by a script rather than for
interactive use. If you wish to have new password confir-
mation along the lines of passwd(1), this must be imple-
mented as part of an interactive script that calls pw.
If a value of `-' is given as the argument fd, then the
password will be set to `*', rendering the account inacces-
sible via password-based login.
Many thanks in advance,
Jez
--
Jez
http://www.munk.nu/
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