diff --git a/share/man/man5/passwd.5 b/share/man/man5/passwd.5
index 0c36a95301d8..2ab84bdd4694 100644
--- a/share/man/man5/passwd.5
+++ b/share/man/man5/passwd.5
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.\"	$NetBSD: passwd.5,v 1.13 1999/10/28 09:24:55 is Exp $
+.\"	$NetBSD: passwd.5,v 1.14 1999/12/16 22:02:00 abs Exp $
 .\"
 .\" Copyright (c) 1988, 1991, 1993
 .\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
@@ -59,10 +59,10 @@ as controlled by
 .Xr nsswitch.conf 5 .
 .Pp
 The
-.Nm
-files consisting of newline separated records, one per user,
-containing ten colon (``:'') separated fields.  These fields are as
-follows:
+.Nm master.passwd
+file is readable only by root, and consists of newline separated
+records, one per user, containing ten colon (``:'') separated
+fields.  These fields are as follows:
 .Pp
 .Bl -tag -width password -offset indent
 .It name
@@ -90,6 +90,15 @@ User's login shell.
 .El
 .Pp
 The
+.Nm 
+file is generated from the 
+.Nm master.password
+file by
+.Xr pwd_mkdb 8 ,
+has the class, change, and expire fields removed, and the password
+field replaced by a ``*''.
+.Pp
+The
 .Ar name
 field is the login used to access the computer account, and the
 .Ar uid