PWDAUTH(3)

NAME
pwdauth, grpauth - password authentication routines

SYNOPSIS

int pwdauth(user, password)
char *user;
char *password;

int grpauth(group, password)
char *group;
char *password;

DESCRIPTION

pwdauth() and grpauth() determine whether the given guess at a password is valid for the given user or group. If the password is valid, the functions return 0.

A password is valid if the password when encrypted matches the encrypted password in the appropriate file. For pwdauth(), if the password.adjunct file exists, the encrypted password will be in either the local or the Network Information Service (NIS) version of that file. Otherwise, either the local or NIS passwd file will be used. For grpauth(), the group.adjunct file (if it exists) or the group file (otherwise) will be checked on the local machine and then using the NIS service. In all cases, the local files will be checked before the NIS files. Also, if the adjunct files exist, the main file will never be used for authentication even if they include encrypted passwords.

Both pwdauth() and grpauth() interface to the authentication daemon, rpc.pwdauthd, to do the checking of the adjunct files. This daemon must be running on any system that provides password authentication.

FILES
/etc/passwd
/etc/group

SEE ALSO
getgraent(3), getgrent(3V), getpwaent(3), getpwent(3V), pwdauthd(8C)

NOTES

The Network Information Service (NIS) was formerly known as Sun Yellow Pages (YP). The functionality of the two remains the same; only the name has changed.