How to change user's password from shell ?

[Technologov]

NOTE: Tricky question, for Advanced Linuxoids only !

hi,
how can I create encrypted passwords from shell script ?
in Debian "mkpasswd" does this job, but not so for Red Hat...

In Debian, when I write shell, I can change user's password, like this:
usermod -p $(mkpasswd -s $password) $user

I'm trying to find equivalent in Red Hat.

I did "man usermod" and "man adduser" but both require encrypted password.
Notice: "mkpasswd" command does *exist* in Red Hat (part of "expect"), but is completely different from Debian's... so I'm stuck.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,
-Technologov

[TrevorH]

Does this work?

[code]
$ echo password | openssl passwd -crypt -stdin
wBTin4MUnz.Qk
[/code]

[r_hartman]

[quote]
Technologov wrote:
I did "man usermod" and "man adduser" but both require encrypted password.[/quote]
man passwd

Not sure if this is what you're looking for, but
[code]echo password | passwd --stdin[/code]would allow you to change passwords from a script.