Under the Hood: Single user vs multi-user deployments

Overview

Passwords can be used by a single individual or shared across a family, team, or other group. The way you plan to use the application determines how much setup is required. In its default configuration, Passwords operates as a single‑user system, where all data is stored locally for one person. If you want to support multiple users you can configure Passwords for a multi‑user deployment. This section explains the differences between these modes and what to expect when setting them up.

Configuration Files

To support multiple users, the configuration files must be stored in a shared, readable location. The files do not need to be writable by every user, but all users must be able to read them. These configuration files contain the global settings that Passwords uses to run.

To determine the current location of your configuration file, open Help → System Information and look under the Standard Paths section. The application lists all relevant directories, including the one used for configuration. For example, in the output below, the second‑to‑last line indicates the directory where files must be copied from is /home/user/.config/sysal1280/Passwords. All files must be copied.

Standard paths:
  Desktop: /home/user/Desktop
  Documents: /home/user/Documents
  Download: /home/user/Downloads
  Music: /home/user/Music
  Pictures: /home/user/Pictures
  Movies: /home/user/Videos
  Home: /home/user
  Temporary Directory: /tmp
  Configuration file: /home/user/.config/sysal1280/Passwords/passwords.conf
  Database file: /home/user/.local/share/sysal1280/Passwords/passwords

To enable multi‑user support, copy or move all files from the configuration directory to one of the following system‑wide locations. You may need to create the directory if it does not already exist:

Operating System	New Directory
Windows	C:\ProgramData\Passwords
Mac OS	/Library/Preferences/Passwords
Linux	/etc/passwords

Database

To support multiple users, the database must also be stored in a shared, writable location. Every user must have permission to write to this file.

As with the configuration file, the database file location is shown in the Standard Paths output. In the example above, the last line: /home/user/.local/share/sysal1280/Passwords/passwords indicates the file that must be moved.

To enable multi‑user support, copy or move the database file to one of the following directories. Again, you may need to create the directory:

Operating System	New Directory
Windows	C:\ProgramData\Passwords\Data
Mac OS	/Library/Application Support/Passwords/passwords
Linux	/var/lib/password/passwords

You may also use a custom location. To do so, ensure that the configuration file contains the following entry under the General section:

LastDatabase=<path-to-database-file>

Once the configuration files and database have been moved—and the LastDatabase entry updated if necessary, Passwords can be launched normally and will operate in multi‑user mode.

Under the Hood: Single user vs multi-user deployments

Overview

Configuration Files

Database

Further Reading