passmass(1)

PASSMASS(1)              USER COMMANDS                PASSMASS(1)

NAME

     passmass - change password on multiple machines

SYNOPSIS

     passmass [ host1 host2 host3 ... ]

INTRODUCTION

     Passmass changes a password on multiple  machines.   If  you
     have accounts on several machines that do not share password
     databases, Passmass can help you  keep  them  all  in  sync.
     This,  in turn, will make it easier to change them more fre-
     quently.

     When Passmass runs, it asks you for the old  and  new  pass-
     words.   (If  you  are  changing  root  passwords  and  have
     equivalencing, the old password is not used and may be omit-
     ted.)

     Passmass understands the  "usual"  conventions.   Additional
     arguments  may  be  used  for tuning.  They affect all hosts
     which follow until another argument overrides it.  For exam-
     ple,  if  you  are  known as "libes" on host1 and host2, but
     "don" on host3, you would say:

          passmass host1 host2 -user don host3

     Arguments are:

          -user
              User whose password will be changed.   By  default,
              the current user is used.

          -rlogin
              Use rlogin to access host.  (default)

          -telnet
              Use telnet to access host.

          -program
              Next argument is taken as program  to  run  to  set
              password.    Default  is  "passwd".   Other  common
              choices are "yppasswd" and "set passwd" (e.g.,  VMS
              hosts).

          -prompt
              Next argument is taken as a prompt suffix  pattern.
              This  allows  the  script to know when the shell is
              prompting.  The default is "# " for root and  "%  "

                   Last change: 7 October 1993                  1

PASSMASS(1)              USER COMMANDS                PASSMASS(1)

              for non-root accounts.

          -timeout
              Next argument is number  of  seconds  to  wait  for
              responses.   Default  is 30 but some systems can be
              much slower logging in.

HOW TO USE

     The best way to run Passmass is to  put  the  command  in  a
     one-line  shell  script  or  alias.   Whenever you get a new
     account on a new machine, add the appropriate  arguments  to
     the  command.   Then run it whenever you want to change your
     passwords on all the hosts.

CAVEATS

     It should be obvious that using the same password on  multi-
     ple hosts carries risks.  In particular, if the password can
     be stolen, then all of your accounts are at risk.  Thus, you
     should not use Passmass in situations where your password is
     visible, such as across a network where hackers are known to
     eavesdrop.

     On the other hand, if you have  enough  accounts  with  dif-
     ferent passwords, you may end up writing them down somewhere
     - and that can be a security problem.  Funny story: my  col-
     lege  roommate had an 11"x13" piece of paper on which he had
     listed accounts and passwords all across the Internet.  This
     was  several  years  worth of careful work and he carried it
     with him everywhere he went.  Well one  day,  he  forgot  to
     remove  it  from  his  jeans, and we found a perfectly blank
     sheet of paper when we took out the wash the following day!

SEE ALSO

     "Exploring  Expect:  A  Tcl-Based  Toolkit  for   Automating
     Interactive Programs" by Don Libes, O'Reilly and Associates,
     January 1995.

AUTHOR

     Don Libes, National Institute of Standards and Technology

                   Last change: 7 October 1993                  2