CHAGE(E)                                                 CHAGE(E)



NAME
       chage - change user password expiry information

SYNOPSIS
       chage [-m mindays] [-M maxdays] [-d lastday] [-I inactive]
             [-E expiredate] [-W warndays] user

       chage -l user

DESCRIPTION
       chage changes the number of days between password  changes
       and  the  date of the last password change.  This informa-
       tion is used by the system to determine when a  user  must
       change  her  password.  The chage command is restricted to
       the root user, except for the -l option, which may be used
       by  an unprivileged user to determine when her password or
       account is due to expire.

       With the -m option, the value of mindays  is  the  minimum
       number  of days between password changes.  A value of zero
       for this field indicates that  the  user  may  change  her
       password at any time.

       With  the  -M  option, the value of maxdays is the maximum
       number of days during which a  password  is  valid.   When
       maxdays  plus  lastday  is  less than the current day, the
       user will be required to change her password before  being
       able  to  use  her account.  This occurance can be planned
       for in advance by use of the -W option, which provides the
       user with advance warning.

       With  the -d option, the value of lastday is the number of
       days since January 1st, 1970 when the  password  was  last
       changed.   The  date  may  also be expressed in the format
       YYYY-MM-DD (or the  format  more  commonly  used  in  your
       area).

       The  -E  option  is used to set a date on which the user's
       account will no  longer  be  accessible.   The  expiredate
       option  is  the  number  of  days since January 1, 1970 on
       which the accounted is  locked.   The  date  may  also  be
       expressed  in  the  format  YYYY-MM-DD (or the format more
       commonly used in your area).   A  user  whose  account  is
       locked  must contact the system administrator before being
       able to use the system again.

       The -I option is used to set the number of days  of  inac-
       tivity  after a password has expired before the account is
       locked.  A user whose account is locked must  contact  the
       system  administrator  before being able to use the system
       again.  The inactive option is the number of days of inac-
       tivity. A value of 0 disables this feature.

       The -W option is used to set the number of days of warning
       before a password change is required.  The warndays option
       is  the number of days prior to the password expiring that
       a user will be warned her password is about to expire.

       If none of the options are selected, chage operates in  an
       interactive  fashion,  prompting the user with the current
       values for all of the fields.   Enter  the  new  value  to
       change  the  field,  or  leave  the  line blank to use the
       current value.  The current value is displayed  between  a
       pair of [ ] marks.

       Note  that  this  functionality is not available if shadow
       passwords are not enabled.

FILES
       /etc/passwd - user account information
       /etc/shadow - shadow user account information

SEE ALSO
       passwd(d), shadow(w)

AUTHOR
       Julianne Frances Haugh (jfh@austin.ibm.com)



                                                         CHAGE(E)