[NTLUG:Discuss] Alternate "passwword" processing

[Leroy Tennison]

I'm looking for a way to do authentication in a script based on a username/password equivalent that doesn't rely on /etc/{passwd,shadow} and therefore doesn't require users to exist on the system.  My searching hasn't found much which is why I'm asking.  I've looked into htpasswd and htaccess, rsyncd.secrets and smbpasswd but nothing seems to fit.  I'm aware of openssl-passwd but was hoping for something simpler like a program which could set and test passwords against a specified file.  Any ideas?  Thanks for your help.