What does '*' symbol in /etc/passwd means?

[F. G. Oakes]

aeba-im-o-e2 at berlin-emh1.army.mil ( IM EMAIL ASST SYS ADMIN) writes:

>>From: KiChang Yang <e910276 at dal1.kaist.ac.kr>
>>Subject: What does '*' symbol in /etc/passwd means?

On the version of UNIX I'm familiar with (SVR3), the password field in
/etc/passwd is 13 characters in length, including the 2 characters of 'salt'.
I've heard the practice of replacing this field with an '*' as 'starring-out'
the password, making it impossible for someone to login to that ID since the
password encryption mechanism is guaranteed to fail.  I've routinely made
this field "*LOCKED*" or "*NO LOGIN*"  to achieve the same purpose.
-- 
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zfgo01 at hgo7.hou.amoco.com (Glen Oakes)