/etc/shadow password hash format (migration from SuSE 9.3 to Debian Wheezy)

["Andreas Meile" <mailingliste@andreas-meile.ch>]

Hello Debian users

I recently migrated an old SuSE Linux 9.3 box to Debian 7 Wheezy. There I
backuped the /etc/shadow file to import the existing passwords from my users
to the new Debian environment using a "vipw -s" command as part of the
migration.

Result: Classic UNIX hashes (format [0-9A-Za-z]{13}) still work but those
hashs beginning with $2a$10$ don't. When resetting the user's password using
"passwd" as root, the new hashes begin with $6$.

Questions:
- Is there a good overview WWW link about all these
$<Version>$[<Subversion?>$] formats?
- Is there a special Debian package or system configuration parameter where
I can enable using older hash formats (but "passwd" still can set changes
into the new $6$ format) or is setting a new password to every affected user
the only way?

Thanks in advance.

      Andreas
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