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2 .\" Guy Helmer, Ames, Iowa 50014. All rights reserved.
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32 .Nd remove users from the system
41 utility removes one or more users submitted on the command line
43 In removing a user from the system, this utility:
52 jobs belonging to the user.
56 signal to all processes owned by the user.
58 Removes the user from the system's local password file.
60 Removes the user's home directory (if it is owned by the user),
61 including handling of symbolic links in the path to the actual home
64 Removes the incoming mail and POP daemon mail files belonging to the
68 Removes all files owned by the user from
71 .Pa /var/tmp/vi.recover .
73 Removes the username from all groups to which it belongs in
75 (If a group becomes empty and the group name is the same as the username,
76 the group is removed; this complements
78 per-user unique groups.)
80 Removes all message queues, shared memory segments and
81 semaphores owned by the user.
86 utility refuses to remove users whose UID is 0 (typically root), since
87 certain actions (namely, killing all the user's processes, and perhaps
88 removing the user's home directory) would cause damage to a running system.
89 If it is necessary to remove a user whose UID is 0, see
91 for information on directly editing the password file.
95 was not invoked with the
98 show the selected user's password file entry and ask for confirmation
99 that the user be removed.
100 It will then ask for confirmation to delete
101 the user's home directory.
102 If the answer is in the affirmative, the home
103 directory and any files and subdirectories under it will be deleted only if
104 they are owned by the user.
111 operates, it informs the user regarding the current activity.
113 errors occur, they are posted to standard error and, if it is possible for
115 to continue, it will.
117 The options are as follows:
118 .Bl -tag -width ".Ar username"
122 utility will get a list of users to be removed from
124 which will contain one user per line.
125 Anything following a hash mark
127 including the hash mark itself, is considered a comment and will not
129 If the file is owned by anyone other than a user with
130 UID 0, or is writable by anyone other than the owner,
132 will refuse to continue.
136 to any and all prompts.
137 Currently, this includes
138 prompts on whether to remove the specified user and whether to remove
140 This option requires that either the
142 option be used, or one or more user names be given as command line
147 the output includes one line per removed user;
151 will be much more chatty about the steps taken.
153 Identifies one or more users to be removed; if not present,
155 interactively asks for one or more users to be removed.
158 .Bl -tag -width "Pa /etc/master.passwd" -compact
159 .It Pa /etc/master.passwd
185 utility does not comprehensively search the file system for all files
186 owned by the removed user and remove them; to do so on a system
187 of any size is prohibitively slow and I/O intensive.
188 It is also unable to remove symbolic links that were created by the
195 file systems do not contain information
196 as to who created them.
197 Also, there may be other files created in
200 .Pa /var/mail/ Ns Ar username
202 .Pa /var/mail/.pop. Ns Ar username
203 that are not owned by the removed user but should be removed.
207 utility has no knowledge of YP/NIS, and it operates only on the