Which of the following can the chage command NOT change?

Question

Options

• AThe number of days since January 1, 1970 after which the user's account will no longer be
• BThe number of days since January 1, 1970 after which the password can change.
• CThe number of days since January 1, 1970 since the password was last changed.
• DThe maximum number of days during which a password is valid.
• EThe number of days of inactivity after a password has expired before the account is locked.

• A
  3% (1)
• B
  72% (26)
• C
  3% (1)
• D
  8% (3)
• E
  14% (5)

Explanation

Option B is correct because the chage command cannot set "the number of days since January 1, 1970 after which the password can change" - this refers to the minimum password age, which is stored in /etc/shadow as a plain count of days (a relative duration), not as an epoch-based absolute date. The minimum age field simply says "wait N days after the last change," making the "since January 1, 1970" framing inapplicable.

The distractors are all valid chage operations: A is the account expiration date (chage -E), stored as days since epoch; C is the last password change date (chage -d), also stored as days since epoch; D is the maximum password validity period (chage -M), a plain day count; and E is the inactivity lockout period (chage -I), another plain day count.

Memory tip: Of all the password aging fields, only two use "days since January 1, 1970" as their unit - the last change date and the account expiration date. Everything else (min age, max age, warn days, inactivity) is a simple day count. Option B is a trap that dresses up the min-age field in epoch language, which is not how it's stored or set.

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