Merged changes from the 1.5.2p2 release.

(Very rough.)

1 files changed, 26 insertions, 9 deletions

diff --git a/Doc/lib/libpwd.tex b/Doc/lib/libpwd.tex
index fb8d693..784f478 100644
--- a/Doc/lib/libpwd.tex
+++ b/Doc/lib/libpwd.tex
@@ -5,21 +5,33 @@
   \platform{Unix}
 \modulesynopsis{The password database (\function{getpwnam()} and friends).}
 
-This module provides access to the \UNIX{} password database.
-It is available on all \UNIX{} versions.
+This module provides access to the \UNIX{} user account and password
+database.  It is available on all \UNIX{} versions.
 
 Password database entries are reported as 7-tuples containing the
 following items from the password database (see \code{<pwd.h>}), in order:
-\code{pw_name},
-\code{pw_passwd},
-\code{pw_uid},
-\code{pw_gid},
-\code{pw_gecos},
-\code{pw_dir},
-\code{pw_shell}.
+
+\begin{tableiii}{r|l|l}{textrm}{Index}{Field}{Meaning}
+  \lineiii{0}{\code{pw_name}}{Login name}
+  \lineiii{1}{\code{pw_passwd}}{Optional encrypted password}
+  \lineiii{2}{\code{pw_uid}}{Numerical user ID}
+  \lineiii{3}{\code{pw_gid}}{Numerical group ID}
+  \lineiii{4}{\code{pw_gecos}}{User name or comment field}
+  \lineiii{5}{\code{pw_dir}}{User home directory}
+  \lineiii{6}{\code{pw_shell}}{User command interpreter}
+\end{tableiii}
+
 The uid and gid items are integers, all others are strings.
 \exception{KeyError} is raised if the entry asked for cannot be found.
 
+\strong{Note:} In traditional \UNIX{} the field \code{pw_passwd} usually
+contains a password encrypted with a DES derived algorithm (see module
+\refmodule{crypt}\refbimodindex{crypt}).  However most modern unices 
+use a so-called \emph{shadow password} system.  On those unices the
+field \code{pw_passwd} only contains a asterisk (\code{'*'}) or the 
+letter \character{x} where the encrypted password is stored in a file
+\file{/etc/shadow} which is not world readable.
+
 It defines the following items:
 
 \begin{funcdesc}{getpwuid}{uid}
@@ -33,3 +45,8 @@ Return the password database entry for the given user name.
 \begin{funcdesc}{getpwall}{}
 Return a list of all available password database entries, in arbitrary order.
 \end{funcdesc}
+
+
+\begin{seealso}
+  \seemodule{grp}{An interface to the group database, similar to this.}
+\end{seealso}