pwhistory.conf5
Pam_pwhistory configuration file
Overview
pwhistory.conf provides a way to configure the default settings for saving the last passwords for each user. This file is read by the pam_pwhistory module and is the preferred method over configuring pam_pwhistory directly.
The file has a very simple name = value format with possible comments starting with # character. The whitespace at the beginning of line, end of line, and around the = sign is ignored.
Options
debug
Turns on debugging via syslog(3).
enforce_for_root
If this option is set, the check is enforced for root, too.
remember=N
The last N passwords for each user are saved. The default is 10. Value of 0 makes the module to keep the existing contents of the opasswd file unchanged.
retry=N
Prompt user at most N times before returning with error. The default is 1.
file=/path/filename
Store password history in file /path/filename rather than the default location. The default location is /etc/security/opasswd.
Examples
/etc/security/pwhistory.conf file example:
debug remember=5 file=/tmp/opasswd
Files
/etc/security/pwhistory.conf
the config file for custom options
Releases
2 releases since Debian 13 (Trixie); the text changed 1 time.