How to set the default root password

Introduction

By default on buildroot there is no password for root user. It is not really secure and can be a problem for some packages like dropbear. This page explain how to set a default password on our board.

On target

The straitforward way to set the root password is to login on the board then type :

# passwd 
Changing password for root
New password: 
Bad password: too short
Retype password: 
Password for root changed by root

If your password seems to be too simple for the system it will tell it, but the password is changed.

On host

If we have a big production of APF* to flash with the same default password it will be really painfull to change it on each boards. The best way is then to change it under our rootfs.

Links

• Buildroot presentation of Thomas Petazzoni (page 25).