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27 .Dd September 15, 2012
32 .Nd command for adding new users
37 .Op Fl L Ar login_class
41 .Op Fl g Ar login_group
43 .Op Fl m Ar message_file
50 utility is a shell script, implemented around the
52 command, for adding new users.
53 It creates passwd/group entries, a home directory,
54 copies dotfiles and sends the new user a welcome message.
55 It supports two modes of operation.
56 It may be used interactively
57 at the command line to add one user at a time, or it may be directed
58 to get the list of new users from a file and operate in batch mode
59 without requiring any user interaction.
61 .Bl -tag -width indent
64 The user name is restricted to whatever
67 Generally this means it
68 may contain only lowercase characters or digits but cannot begin with the
73 The reasons for this limit are historical.
74 Given that people have traditionally wanted to break this
75 limit for aesthetic reasons, it has never been of great importance to break
76 such a basic fundamental parameter in
83 world; people have done this and it works, but you will have problems
84 with any precompiled programs, or source that assumes the 8-character
85 name limit, such as NIS.
86 The NIS protocol mandates an 8-character username.
87 If you need a longer login name for e-mail addresses,
88 you can define an alias in
89 .Pa /etc/mail/aliases .
91 This is typically known as the gecos field and usually contains
93 Additionally, it may contain a comma separated
94 list of values such as office number and work and home phones.
96 name contains an ampersand it will be replaced by the capitalized
97 login name when displayed by other programs.
100 character is not allowed.
104 argument is supplied only valid shells from the shell database
108 either the base name or the full path of the shell may be supplied.
110 Automatically generated or your choice.
111 It must be less than 32000.
112 .It "GID/login group"
113 Automatically generated or your choice.
114 It must be less than 32000.
116 You may choose an empty password, disable the password, use a
117 randomly generated password or specify your own plaintext password,
118 which will be encrypted before being stored in the user database.
121 Perhaps you are missing what
123 be done with this scheme that falls apart
124 with most other schemes.
125 With each user in their own group,
126 they can safely run with a umask of 002 instead of the usual 022
127 and create files in their home directory
128 without worrying about others being able to change them.
130 For a shared area you create a separate UID/GID, you place each person
131 that should be able to access this area into that new group.
133 This model of UID/GID administration allows far greater flexibility than lumping
134 users into groups and having to muck with the umask when working in a shared
137 I have been using this model for almost 10 years and found that it works
138 for most situations, and has never gotten in the way.
143 utility reads its configuration information from
144 .Pa /etc/adduser.conf .
145 If this file does not exist, it will use predefined defaults.
146 While this file may be edited by hand,
147 the safer option is to use the
149 command line argument.
152 will start interactive input, save the answers to its prompts in
153 .Pa /etc/adduser.conf ,
154 and promptly exit without modifying the user
156 Options specified on the command line will take precedence over
157 any values saved in this file.
159 .Bl -tag -width indent
161 Create new configuration file and exit.
162 This option is mutually exclusive with the
165 .It Fl d Ar partition
167 Default partition, under which all user directories
171 partition is considered special.
174 script will not create and populate a home directory by that name.
176 by default it attempts to create a home directory.
178 Do not attempt to create the home directory.
181 This option will lock the account by prepending the string
183 to the password field.
184 The account may be unlocked
185 by the super-user with the
189 .D1 Nm pw Cm unlock Op Ar name | uid
191 Get the list of accounts to create from
197 then get the list from standard input.
198 If this option is specified,
200 will operate in batch mode and will not seek any user input.
201 If an error is encountered while processing an account, it will write a
202 message to standard error and move to the next account.
204 of the input file is described below.
205 .It Fl g Ar login_group
207 if no login group is specified,
208 it is assumed to be the same as the username.
213 Space-separated list of additional groups.
214 This option allows the user to specify additional groups to add users to.
215 The user is a member of these groups in addition to their login group.
217 Print a summary of options and exit.
218 .It Fl k Ar directory
222 directory of new users;
226 .It Fl L Ar login_class
227 Set default login class.
229 Send new users a welcome message from
231 Specifying a value of
235 causes no message to be sent to new users.
236 Please note that the message
237 file can reference the internal variables of the
241 Create the home directory with permissions set to
244 Do not read the default configuration file.
246 Minimal user feedback.
247 In particular, the random password will not be echoed to
250 Default shell for new users.
253 argument may be the base name of the shell or the full path.
256 argument is supplied the shell must exist in
258 or be the special shell
260 to be considered a valid shell.
262 The existence or validity of the specified shell will not be checked.
271 utility allows the user to specify what type of password to create.
274 argument may have one of the following values:
275 .Bl -tag -width ".Cm random"
277 Disable the password.
278 Instead of an encrypted string, the password field will contain a single
281 The user may not log in until the super-user
282 manually enables the password.
284 Use an empty string as the password.
286 Use a user-supplied string as the password.
288 the user will be prompted for the password.
290 last (10th) field in the line is assumed to be the password.
292 Generate a random string and use it as a password.
293 The password will be echoed to standard output.
294 In addition, it will be available for inclusion in the message file in the
302 option is used, the account information must be stored in a specific
304 All empty lines or lines beginning with a
307 All other lines must contain ten colon
309 separated fields as described below.
310 Command line options do not take precedence
311 over values in the fields.
312 Only the password field may contain a
314 character as part of the string.
317 .D1 Ar name : uid : gid : class : change : expire : gecos : home_dir : shell : password
319 .Bl -tag -width ".Ar password"
322 This field may not be empty.
324 Numeric login user ID.
325 If this field is left empty, it will be automatically generated.
327 Numeric primary group ID.
328 If this field is left empty, a group with the
329 same name as the user name will be created and its GID will be used
333 This field may be left empty.
336 This field denotes the password change date for the account.
337 The format of this field is the same as the format of the
342 .Ar dd Ns - Ns Ar mmm Ns - Ns Ar yy Ns Op Ar yy ,
347 is for the month in numeric or alphabetical format:
353 is the four or two digit year.
354 To denote a time relative to the current date the format is:
355 .No + Ns Ar n Ns Op Ar mhdwoy ,
358 denotes a number, followed by the minutes, hours, days, weeks,
359 months or years after which the password must be changed.
360 This field may be left empty to turn it off.
363 This field denotes the expiry date of the account.
364 The account may not be used after the specified date.
365 The format of this field is the same as that for password ageing.
366 This field may be left empty to turn it off.
368 Full name and other extra information about the user.
371 If this field is left empty, it will be automatically
372 created by appending the username to the home partition.
375 home directory is considered special and
376 is understood to mean that no home directory is to be
377 created for the user.
380 This field should contain either the base name or
381 the full path to a valid login shell.
384 This field should contain a plaintext string, which will
385 be encrypted before being placed in the user database.
386 If the password type is
388 and this field is empty, it is assumed the account will have an empty password.
389 If the password type is
393 empty, its contents will be used
395 This field will be ignored if the
397 option is used with a
402 Be careful not to terminate this field with a closing
404 because it will be treated as part of the password.
407 .Bl -tag -width ".Pa /etc/adduser.message" -compact
408 .It Pa /etc/master.passwd
414 .It Pa /etc/login.conf
415 login classes database
416 .It Pa /etc/adduser.conf
417 configuration file for
419 .It Pa /etc/adduser.message
422 .It Pa /usr/share/skel
423 skeletal login directory
424 .It Pa /var/log/adduser
449 This manual page and the original script, in Perl, was written by
450 .An Wolfram Schneider Aq Mt wosch@FreeBSD.org .
451 The replacement script, written as a Bourne
452 shell script with some enhancements, and the man page modification that
453 came with it were done by
454 .An Mike Makonnen Aq Mt mtm@identd.net .
458 to correctly expand variables such as
462 in the message sent to new users, it must let the shell evaluate
463 each line of the message file.
464 This means that shell commands can also be embedded in the message file.
467 utility attempts to mitigate the possibility of an attacker using this
468 feature by refusing to evaluate the file if it is not owned and writable
469 only by the root user.
470 In addition, shell special characters and operators will have to be
471 escaped when used in the message file.
473 Also, password ageing and account expiry times are currently settable
474 only in batch mode or when specified in
475 .Pa /etc/adduser.conf .
476 The user should be able to set them in interactive mode as well.