passwd (the program that sets password) handles lines with number of fields != 7 ungracefully. Instead of finding out why I have resorted to regularly running a verification script on /etc/passwd. (echo passwd ; awk 'BEGIN{FS=":"}{if(NF != 7) print $0 }' \ </etc/passwd ) | mail johanw {philabs,decvax}!mcvax!enea!ttds!johanw Johan Widen