The pwconv command creates and updates /etc/shadow with information from /etc/passwd.

pwconv relies on a special value of 'x' in the password field of /etc/passwd. This value of 'x' indicates that the password for the user is already in /etc/shadow and should not be modified.

If the /etc/shadow file does not exist, this command will create /etc/shadow with information from /etc/passwd. The command populates /etc/shadow with the user's login name, password, and password aging information. If password aging information does not exist in /etc/passwd for a given user, none will be added to /etc/shadow. However, the last changed information will always be updated.

If the /etc/shadow file does exist, the following tasks will be performed:

Entries that are in the /etc/passwd file and not in the /etc/shadow file will be added to the /etc/shadow file.

Entries that are in the /etc/shadow file and not in the /etc/passwd file will be removed from /etc/shadow.

Password attributes (for example, password and aging information) that exist in an /etc/passwd entry will be moved to the corresponding entry in /etc/shadow.

The pwconv command can only be used by the super-user.

/etc/opasswd

/etc/oshadow

/etc/passwd

/etc/shadow

See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

passwd(1), passmgmt(1M), usermod(1M), passwd(4), attributes(5)

pwconv exits with one of the following values:

0

SUCCESS.

1

Permission denied.

2

Invalid command syntax.

3

Unexpected failure. Conversion not done.

4

Unexpected failure. Password file(s) missing.

5

Password file(s) busy. Try again later.

6

Bad entry in /etc/shadow file.