TIL passwd on Ubuntu no longer supports the stdin option

 In the past, I've used the passwd command in scripts to set a default password for new Linux accounts, as per this example: -

groupadd wasadmins

useradd -g wasadmins -d /home/wasadmin wasadmin

echo "passw0rd" | passwd wasadmin --stdin

( remembering that this is for NON-PROD boxes ONLY )

However, things appear to have changed, as that didn't work on Ubuntu 18.0.4

lsb_release -a

No LSB modules are available.

Distributor ID: Ubuntu

Description: Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS

Release: 18.04

Codename: bionic

as the --stdin option is not supported, as per this: -

echo "passw0rd" | passwd wasadmin --stdin

passwd: unrecognized option '--stdin'

Usage: passwd [options] [LOGIN]

Options:

  -a, --all                     report password status on all accounts

  -d, --delete                  delete the password for the named account

  -e, --expire                  force expire the password for the named account

  -h, --help                    display this help message and exit

  -k, --keep-tokens             change password only if expired

  -i, --inactive INACTIVE       set password inactive after expiration

                                to INACTIVE

  -l, --lock                    lock the password of the named account

  -n, --mindays MIN_DAYS        set minimum number of days before password

                                change to MIN_DAYS

  -q, --quiet                   quiet mode

  -r, --repository REPOSITORY   change password in REPOSITORY repository

  -R, --root CHROOT_DIR         directory to chroot into

  -S, --status                  report password status on the named account

  -u, --unlock                  unlock the password of the named account

  -w, --warndays WARN_DAYS      set expiration warning days to WARN_DAYS

  -x, --maxdays MAX_DAYS        set maximum number of days before password

                                change to MAX_DAYS

Thankfully the internet provided an alternate: -

Using the passwd command from within a shell script

specifically this: -

echo "wasadmin:passw0rd!" | chpasswd

which worked a treat.

I also had to add the -m switch to my useradd command to force it to create a home directory, so we now have this: -

groupadd wasadmins

useradd -g wasadmins -d /home/wasadmin -m wasadmin

echo "wasadmin:passw0rd!" | chpasswd

which does the job nicely!