PASSWORDS - how to create them and how to destroy them.

Description:

You will encounter two types of password: the login password (kept in your entry in the system-master-catalog or SMC) and a password on a catalog or file.

The login password:

The password which you supply at login is used to validate you as a user and as such has nothing to do with any files that may be associated with your userid.

To change your login password, use the PASSWD command as follows:

*passwd
Enter new password
ZXXmZZ$XXAXZ     <- type new password on blot
Re-enter new password
mZekR@$A$@kA     <- retype it
Enter old password
kR$#QgmQDXek

As shown above, the PASSWD command asks for the new password type (just to make sure that you spelled it right the first time), and also asks for the old password (just to make sure you're you).

Catalog or file passwords:

You can also place a password on any file or catalog under your userid, including the user-master-catalog or UMC (the root of your personal file system tree).

To put a password on a file, use the command

acce mf filename pass/newpasswd/

where "filename" can be an unqualified name like "myfile" or a catalog/file descriptor like "/upd/tlga". If intervening catalogs have passwords, you can either give them in the command line or when prompted for by the file system.

If you forget a password, there is no way that you can find out by yourself what it should be. If you do forget, you can send a mail message to userid "consultant", asking to be directed to the person who has the privileges necessary to find out what it is.

To remove a password, you can say

acce mf filename$password pass//

Again, if you do not mention a password in the command line, the file system will type a mask and ask for it.

The rules for creating/removing catalog passwords are the same, except that you should use the "mc" function of ACCESS instead of "mf". However, if you refer to a catalog under your own UMC, like "cgable/cat", you must put a "/" in front of the name (e.g. "acce mc /cat password/oatoat/"). If the slash is not in front of the pathname, the first part of the pathname is taken to be a userid name. Thus you can put a password on your UMC (we don't really recommend it) with the command

acce mc rvanwinkle password/haha/

Copyright © 1996, Thinkage Ltd.