Open Source Software

chfn(1)



NAME

   chfn - change real user name and information

SYNOPSIS

   chfn [options] [LOGIN]

DESCRIPTION

   The chfn command changes user fullname, office room number, office
   phone number, and home phone number information for a user's account.
   This information is typically printed by finger(1) and similar
   programs. A normal user may only change the fields for her own account,
   subject to the restrictions in /etc/login.defs. (The default
   configuration is to prevent users from changing their fullname.) The
   superuser may change any field for any account. Additionally, only the
   superuser may use the -o option to change the undefined portions of the
   GECOS field.

   These fields must not contain any colons. Except for the other field,
   they should not contain any comma or equal sign. It is also recommended
   to avoid non-US-ASCII characters, but this is only enforced for the
   phone numbers. The other field is used to store accounting information
   used by other applications.

OPTIONS

   The options which apply to the chfn command are:

   -f, --full-name FULL_NAME
       Change the user's full name.

   -h, --home-phone HOME_PHONE
       Change the user's home phone number.

   -o, --other OTHER
       Change the user's other GECOS information. This field is used to
       store accounting information used by other applications, and can be
       changed only by a superuser.

   -r, --room ROOM_NUMBER
       Change the user's room number.

   -R, --root CHROOT_DIR
       Apply changes in the CHROOT_DIR directory and use the configuration
       files from the CHROOT_DIR directory.

   -u, --help
       Display help message and exit.

   -w, --work-phone WORK_PHONE
       Change the user's office phone number.

   If none of the options are selected, chfn 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. Without options, chfn prompts for the current user
   account.

CONFIGURATION

   The following configuration variables in /etc/login.defs change the
   behavior of this tool:

   CHFN_RESTRICT (string)
       This parameter specifies which values in the gecos field of the
       /etc/passwd file may be changed by regular users using the chfn
       program. It can be any combination of letters f, r, w, h, for Full
       name, Room number, Work phone, and Home phone, respectively. For
       backward compatibility, yes is equivalent to rwh and no is
       equivalent to frwh. If not specified, only the superuser can make
       any changes. The most restrictive setting is better achieved by not
       installing chfn SUID.

FILES

   /etc/login.defs
       Shadow password suite configuration.

   /etc/passwd
       User account information.

SEE ALSO

   chsh(1), login.defs(5), passwd(5).



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