star in password field

[Seth H Zirin]

> does anyone know what a * in the password field in /etc/passwd
> or /etc/group  means??

Seems to me that it means you can't login to that user. You also can't su to
that user unless you're doing it from root (i.e. no passwd needed).  We
generally do this for logins like lp, bin, sys, and adm, that only need
to be accessed from superuser (here at least).
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name:	Seth H Zirin
UUCP:	{decvax, ihnp4}!philabs!sbcs!megad!seth

Keeper of the News for megad