Semi-untested code follows:
my $plaintext = "tstpw82!";
srand(time() ^ ($$ + ($$ << 15)));
my @chars = ('0'..'9','a'..'z','A'..'Z','!','+');
my $salt = $chars[int(rand(scalar @chars))] . $chars[int(rand(scalar @
+chars))];
print crypt($plaintext,$salt) . "\n";

[download]
This is just for generating the encrypted version of the plaintext password. Maybe you already knew that, but here it is anyway.

To update shadow is a mission of it's own. Most of the time when I've done it in scripts, I use the following method:

Something like that... I'm sure some people will have plenty of stuff to say about this approach, but it works for me and I manage over 8000 user accounts. :)

... and no! That's not my real password in $plaintext! :)

update: In light of what cianoz wrote below, I must say that I was a bit one-track minded there. My post is valid for Solaris systems. :) I don't know if it's possible to implement MD5 passwords with some sort of PAM, and there's no such commmand as chpassword (I think).

In reply to RE: shadow passwd by dempa
in thread shadow passwd by SteveM

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