chfn - change real user name and information
chfn [options] [LOGIN]
The chfn command changes user fullname, office room number, office phone number, and home phone number information for a users 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.
The options which apply to the chfn command are:
-f, --full-name
FULL_NAME
Change the users full name.
-h, --home-phone
HOME_PHONE
Change the users home phone number.
-o, --other OTHER
Change the users 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 users room number.
-R, --root CHROOT_DIR
Apply changes in the
CHROOT_DIRdirectory and use the configuration files from theCHROOT_DIRdirectory. Only absolute paths are supported.
-u, --help
Display help message and exit.
-w, --work-phone
WORK_PHONE
Change the users 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.
The following configuration variables in /etc/login.defs change the behavior of this tool:
CHFN_RESTRICT (string)
This parameter specifies which values in the
gecosfield of the /etc/passwd file may be changed by regular users using the chfn program. It can be any combination of lettersf,r,w,h, for Full name, Room number, Work phone, and Home phone, respectively. For backward compatibility,yesis equivalent torwhandnois equivalent tofrwh. If not specified, only the superuser can make any changes. The most restrictive setting is better achieved by not installing chfn SUID.
/etc/login.defs
Shadow password suite configuration.
/etc/passwd
User account information.
chsh(1), login.defs(5), passwd(5).