NAME

       table_passwd — format description for smtpd passwd tables

DESCRIPTION

       This manual page documents the file format of "passwd" tables used by the smtpd(8) mail daemon.

       The format described here applies to tables as defined in smtpd.conf(5).

PASSWD TABLE

       A  "passwd"  table  stores  information  regarding  local  users.   The  information is encoded using the
       traditional passwd(5) format and allows  the  sharing  of  a  user  database  across  different  software
       supporting this format.

       The table is used by smtpd(8) when authenticating a user or when user information such as user-id or home
       directory is required for a delivery.

       A  "passwd" table consists of a flat file containing the user entries, each one on a line by itself, with
       fields separated by a colon:

             gilles:*:1000:1000:Gilles:/home/gilles:/sbin/nologin
             eric:*:1001:1001:Eric:/home/eric:/sbin/nologin
             chl:*:1002:1002:Charles:/home/chl:/sbin/nologin

       Besides the first username field and depending on the table type, fields are optional and might be empty.
       The gecos and the shell field are not used and ignored.

       If the table is used for authentication, the second field should contain a password encrypted  using  the
       crypt(3)  function.   Such  passwords can be generated using the encrypt(1) utility or smtpctl(8) encrypt
       command.

       If the table is used for user information, user-id, group-id, and home directory fields are required.

       In favor of supporting shared authentication with the Dovecot Passwd-file format, extra fields after  the
       last shell field are allowed (and ignored).

SEE ALSO

       passwd(5), smtpd.conf(5), smtpctl(8), smtpd(8)

HISTORY

       The  first  version of table_passwd was written in 2013.  It was converted to the stdio table protocol in
       2024.

AUTHORS

       table_passwd was initially written by Gilles Chehade <gilles@poolp.org> and  further  improved  by  Joerg
       Jung   <jung@openbsd.org>.    The  conversion  to  the  stdio  table  protocol  was  done  by  Omar  Polo
       <op@openbsd.org>.

Debian                                            April 4, 2024                                  TABLE_PASSWD(5)