>Number:         8655
>Category:       misc
>Synopsis:       passwd(5) fails to mention the significance of '&' in the gecos field
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       non-critical
>Priority:       medium
>Responsible:    misc-bug-people (Misc Bug People)
>State:          open
>Class:          doc-bug
>Submitter-Id:   net
>Arrival-Date:   Wed Oct 20 10:42:00 1999
>Last-Modified:
>Originator:     Greg A. Woods
>Organization:
Planix, Inc.; Toronto, Ontario; Canada
>Release:        1999/10/20
>Environment:

System: NetBSD

>Description:

	The passwd(5) manual page fails to mention the significance of
	'&' in the gecos field.

>How-To-Repeat:

	Try to explain to someone why there's an "&" in "Charlie &" in
	the default /etc/master.passwd file and fail to find any
	authoritative documentation on-line in the obvious place to
	confirm the reason.

>Fix:

Index: passwd.5
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/NetBSD/src/share/man/man5/passwd.5,v
retrieving revision 1.1.1.3
diff -c -c -r1.1.1.3 passwd.5
*** passwd.5	1998/11/16 20:51:28	1.1.1.3
--- passwd.5	1999/10/20 17:30:08
***************
*** 156,164 ****
  user's home phone number
  .El
  .Pp
! This information is used by the
  .Xr finger 1
! program.
  .Pp
  The user's home directory is the full
  .Ux
--- 156,171 ----
  user's home phone number
  .El
  .Pp
! The full name may contain a ampersand (``&'') which will be replaced by
! the capitalized login name when the gecos field is displayed or used
! by various programs such as
! .Xr finger 1 ,
! .Xr sendmail 8 ,
! etc.
! .Pp
! The office and phone number subfields are used by the
  .Xr finger 1
! program, and possibly other applications.
  .Pp
  The user's home directory is the full
  .Ux
>Audit-Trail:
>Unformatted: