Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!uxc!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!bbn!ulowell!hawk!arosen
From: arosen@hawk.ulowell.edu (MFHorn)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sequent
Subject: Re: Password Aging for 4.2BSD (or DYNIX )
Message-ID: <12652@swan.ulowell.edu>
Date: 6 Apr 89 06:32:49 GMT
References: <38996@peregrine.peregrine.com> <28452@apple.Apple.COM>
Sender: news@swan.ulowell.edu
Reply-To: arosen@hawk.ulowell.edu (MFHorn)
Distribution: usa
Organization: University of Lowell, CS Dept.
Lines: 28

In article <28452@apple.Apple.COM> fair@Apple.COM (Erik E. Fair) writes:
> Meta comment: all password aging system implementations I have seen
> to date are EVIL. They surprise you one day without any warning and
> FORCE you to change your password on the spot to something else 

VAX/VMS gives you a warning..

> 	2) Give me a week's warning by Email, 7 days, 4 days, 2 days,
> 		and the day before it forced the change on me.
> 		Obviously, if I change my password in advance of this
> 		date, it would reset the time-changed so that I would
> 		not be bothered until the next period expired.

VMS tells you when you login "WARNING: Your password expires <date>".
If you change it before that, the expiration date gets reset.

But, it doesn't force you to change your password if you login after
it's expired.  If you logout without changing it yourself, you can't
login again (without talking to your sys admin).  In my opinion, this
is worse than giving no warning.

Disclaimer:  I am by no means a fan of VMS.  Unix (tm) rules.

--
Andy Rosen           | arosen@hawk.ulowell.edu | "I got this guitar and I
ULowell, Box #3031   | ulowell!arosen          |  learned how to make it
Lowell, Ma 01854     |                         |  talk" -Thunder Road
		RD in '88 - The way it should've been