Linux Gurus?

[[TRT]TazAnimal!{*}]

All:
  Being a Linux newbie, I have a Linux / bash script question.

I have a script that I use to set up a server (creates user, sets up their
home folder with cod, etc...).  It has one problem though....

When it creates the user, I am unable to correctly set the password and I
have to go back into the user account and reset the password.

Here is the relevant part of script:

#!/bin/bash
userdir=$1
passwd=$2
if [[ $userdir = '' || $passwd = '' ]]
then
	echo "Usage mkcod14 <username> <password>"
	echo "..."
else
	useradd $userdir -c aghostscustomer -g staff -d /home/$userdir -p `echo
"print crypt('$passwd',null);" | perl` -m

...... cut ......

Is there a "correct" way to set the password using crypt that I can't find
on google?  :-)

Thanks for any light you can shed.
[TRT]TazAnimal{*}
Brett Stinson
TazAnimal at rifleteam.com <mailto:TazAnimal at rifleteam.com>