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32 .Nd create, remove, modify & display system users and groups
43 .Op Fl e Ar accexpdate
51 .Op Fl p Ar passexpdate
54 .Op Fl w Ar passmethod
55 .Op Fl Y Op Fl y Ar nispasswd
64 .Op Fl e Ar accexpdays
67 .Op Fl i Ar mingid , Ns Ar maxgid
70 .Op Fl p Ar passexpdays
72 .Op Fl u Ar minuid , Ns Ar maxuid
73 .Op Fl w Ar passmethod
74 .Op Fl Y Op Fl y Ar nispasswd
79 .Oo Fl n Oc Ar name Ns | Ns Oo Fl u Oc Ar uid
81 .Op Fl Y Op Fl y Ar nispasswd
86 .Oo Fl n Oc Ar name Ns | Ns Ar uid Oo Fl u Ar newuid Oc | Fl u Ar uid
91 .Op Fl e Ar accexpdate
100 .Op Fl p Ar passexpdate
102 .Op Fl w Ar passmethod
103 .Op Fl Y Op Fl y Ar nispasswd
108 .Oo Fl n Oc Ar name Ns | Ns Oo Fl u Oc Ar uid
131 .Oo Fl n Oc Ar name Ns | Ns Oo Fl g Oc Ar gid
137 .Oo Fl n Oc Ar name Ns | Ns Ar gid Oo Fl g Ar newgid Oc | Fl g Ar gid
140 .Op Fl d Ar oldmembers
145 .Op Fl m Ar newmembers
150 .Oo Fl n Oc Ar name Ns | Ns Oo Fl g Oc Ar gid
162 .Oo Fl n Oc Ar name Ns | Ns Oo Fl u Oc Ar uid
169 .Oo Fl n Oc Ar name Ns | Ns Oo Fl u Oc Ar uid
175 utility is a command-line based editor for the system
179 files, allowing the superuser an easy to use and standardized way of adding,
180 modifying and removing users and groups.
183 only operates on the local user and group files.
185 users and groups must be
191 utility handles updating the
193 .Xr master.passwd 5 ,
195 and the secure and insecure
196 password database files, and must be run as root.
198 The first one or two keywords provided to
200 on the command line provide the context for the remainder of the arguments.
219 all mean the same thing.)
220 This flexibility is useful for interactive scripts calling
222 for user and group database manipulation.
223 Following these keywords,
224 the user or group name or numeric id may be optionally specified as an
225 alternative to using the
231 The following flags are common to most or all modes of operation:
232 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
234 Specifies an alternate root directory within which
237 Any paths specified will be relative to
240 Set an alternate location for the password, group, and configuration files.
241 Can be used to maintain a user/group database in an alternate location.
242 If this switch is specified, the system
244 will not be sourced for default configuration data,
247 in the specified directory will be used instead
248 .Pq or none, if it does not exist .
251 flag may be used to override this behaviour.
252 As an exception to the general rule where options must follow the operation
255 flag must be used on the command line before the operation keyword.
261 to obtain policy information on how new user accounts and groups are to be created.
264 option specifies a different configuration file.
265 While most of the contents of the configuration file may be overridden via
266 command-line options, it may be more convenient to keep standard information in a
269 Use of this option causes
271 to suppress error messages,
272 which may be useful in interactive environments where it
273 is preferable to interpret status codes returned by
275 rather than messing up a carefully formatted display.
277 This option is available in
281 operations, and tells
283 to output the result of the operation without updating the user or group
287 option to switch between standard passwd and readable formats.
289 Using this option with any of the update modes causes
293 after changing to the directory
295 This is intended to allow automatic updating of
298 If separate passwd and group files are being used by
302 option to specify the location of the
304 passwd database so that
306 will concurrently update it with the system password
310 The following options apply to the
315 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
316 .It Oo Fl n Oc Ar name
320 Specify the user/account name.
329 Specify the user/account numeric id.
334 changes the numeric id of the named user/account.
336 Usually, only one of these options is required,
337 as the account name will imply the uid, or vice versa.
338 However, there are times when both are needed.
339 For example, when changing the uid of an existing user with
341 or overriding the default uid when creating a new account with
343 To automatically allocate the uid to a new user with
350 Either the account or userid can also be provided immediately after the
356 keywords on the command line without using the
362 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
364 This field sets the contents of the passwd GECOS field,
365 which normally contains up to four comma-separated fields containing the
366 user's full name, office or location,
367 and work and home phone numbers.
368 These sub-fields are used by convention only, however, and are optional.
369 If this field is to contain spaces,
370 the comment must be enclosed in double quotes
372 Avoid using commas in this field as these are used as sub-field separators,
375 character also cannot be used as this is the field separator for the passwd
378 This option sets the account's home directory.
380 this is only used if the home directory is to be different from the
381 default determined from
385 with the account name as a subdirectory.
386 .It Fl e Ar accexpdate
387 Set the account's expiration date.
388 Format of the date is either a UNIX time in decimal, or a date in
390 format, where dd is the day,
391 mmm is the month, either in numeric or alphabetic format
392 ('Jan', 'Feb', etc) and year is either a two or four digit year.
393 This option also accepts a relative date in the form
398 octal (leading 0) or hexadecimal (leading 0x) digit followed by the
399 number of Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, Months or Years from the current date at
400 which the expiration date is to be set.
401 .It Fl p Ar passexpdate
402 Set the account's password expiration date.
403 This field is similar to the account expiration date option, except that it
404 applies to forced password changes.
405 This is set in the same manner as the
409 Set the account's primary group to the given group.
411 may be defined by either its name or group number.
412 .It Fl G Ar grouplist
413 Set secondary group memberships for an account.
415 is a comma, space, or tab-separated list of group names or group numbers.
416 The user is added to the groups specified in
418 and removed from all groups not specified.
419 The current login session is not affected by group membership changes,
420 which only take effect when the user reconnects.
421 Note: do not add a user to their primary group with
424 This option sets the login class for the user being created.
429 for more information on user login classes.
431 This option instructs
433 to attempt to create the user's home directory.
434 While primarily useful when adding a new account with
436 this may also be of use when moving an existing user's home directory elsewhere
438 The new home directory is populated with the contents of the
440 directory, which typically contains a set of shell configuration files that the
441 user may personalize to taste.
442 Files in this directory are usually named
443 .Pa dot . Ns Aq Ar config
446 prefix will be stripped.
449 is used on an account with
451 existing configuration files in the user's home directory are
453 overwritten from the skeleton files.
455 When a user's home directory is created,
456 it will by default be a subdirectory of the
458 directory as specified by the
460 option, bearing the name of the new account.
461 This can be overridden by the
463 option on the command line, if desired.
465 Create the user's home directory with the specified
467 modified by the current
469 If omitted, it is derived from the parent process'
471 This option is only useful in combination with the
477 directory, from which basic startup and configuration files are copied when
478 the user's home directory is created.
479 This option only has meaning when used with the
485 Set or changes the user's login shell to
487 If the path to the shell program is omitted,
493 and fills it in as appropriate.
494 Note that unless you have a specific reason to do so, you should avoid
495 specifying the path - this will allow
497 to validate that the program exists and is executable.
498 Specifying a full path (or supplying a blank "" shell) avoids this check
499 and allows for such entries as
501 that should be set for accounts not intended for interactive login.
503 This option provides a special interface by which interactive scripts can
504 set an account password using
506 Because the command line and environment are fundamentally insecure mechanisms
507 by which programs can accept information,
509 will only allow setting of account and group passwords via a file descriptor
510 (usually a pipe between an interactive script and the program).
516 all possess mechanisms by which this can be done.
519 will prompt for the user's password if
523 as the file descriptor on which to read the password.
524 Note that this password will be read only once and is intended
525 for use by a script rather than for interactive use.
526 If you wish to have new password confirmation along the lines of
528 this must be implemented as part of an interactive script that calls
533 is given as the argument
535 then the password will be set to
537 rendering the account inaccessible via password-based login.
539 Read an encrypted password string from the specified file descriptor.
542 but the password should be supplied already encrypted in a form
543 suitable for writing directly to the password database.
548 for more details about generating an encrypted password hash.
551 It is possible to use
553 to create a new account that duplicates an existing user id.
554 While this is normally considered an error and will be rejected, the
556 option overrides the check for duplicates and allows the duplication of
558 This may be useful if you allow the same user to login under
559 different contexts (different group allocations, different home
560 directory, different shell) while providing basically the same
561 permissions for access to the user's files in each account.
565 command also has the ability to set new user and group defaults by using the
568 Instead of adding a new user,
570 writes a new set of defaults to its configuration file,
574 option, you must not use either
578 or an error will result.
581 changes the meaning of several command line switches in the
585 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
587 Set default values in
589 configuration file, or a different named configuration file if the
593 Set the root directory in which user home directories are created.
594 The default value for this is
596 but it may be set elsewhere as desired.
597 .It Fl e Ar accexpdays
598 Set the default account expiration period in days.
603 argument is interpreted differently.
604 It must be numeric and represents the number of days after creation
605 that the account expires.
606 A value of 0 suppresses automatic calculation of the expiry date.
607 .It Fl p Ar passexpdays
608 Set the default password expiration period in days.
613 argument is interpreted differently.
614 It must be numeric and represents the number of days after creation
615 that the account expires.
616 A value of 0 suppresses automatic calculation of the expiry date.
618 Set the default group for new users.
619 If a blank group is specified using
621 then new users will be allocated their own private primary group
622 with the same name as their login name.
623 If a group is supplied, either its name or uid may be given as an argument.
624 .It Fl G Ar grouplist
625 Set the default groups in which new users are granted membership.
626 This is a separate set of groups from the primary group.
627 Avoid nominating the same group as both primary and extra groups.
628 In other words, these extra groups determine membership in groups
632 is a comma-separated list of group names or ids, and are always
635 by their symbolic names.
637 This option sets the default login class for new users.
642 from which prototype shell and other initialization files are copied when
644 creates a user's home directory.
647 for naming conventions of these files.
649 .Fl u Ar minuid Ns Cm \&, Ns Ar maxuid ,
650 .Fl i Ar mingid Ns Cm \&, Ns Ar maxgid
652 Set the minimum and maximum user and group ids allocated for new
653 accounts and groups created by
655 The default values for each is 1000 minimum and 32000 maximum.
659 are both numbers, where max must be greater than min,
660 and both must be between 0 and 32767
661 .Po the same applies to
667 user and group ids less than 100 are reserved for use by the system,
668 and numbers greater than 32000 may also be reserved for special purposes
669 .Pq used by some system daemons .
670 .It Fl w Ar passmethod
673 option selects the default method used to set passwords for newly created user
678 .Bl -tag -width random -offset indent -compact
680 disable login on newly created accounts
682 force the password to be the account name
684 force a blank password
686 generate a random password
693 methods are the most secure; in the former case,
695 generates a password and prints it to stdout,
696 which is suitable when users are issued passwords rather than being allowed
698 .Pq possibly poorly chosen
702 method requires that the superuser use
704 to render the account accessible with a password.
706 This sets the pathname of the database used by
708 if you are not sharing
710 .Pa /etc/master.passwd
713 You should only set this option for
720 command has three distinct options.
725 options have already been covered above.
726 The additional option is:
727 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
731 to remove the user's home directory and all of its contents.
734 utility errs on the side of caution when removing files from the system.
736 it will not do so if the uid of the account being removed is also used by
737 another account on the system, and the
739 directory in the password file is
740 a valid path that commences with the character
742 Secondly, it will only remove files and directories that are actually owned by
743 the user, or symbolic links owned by anyone under the user's home directory.
744 Finally, after deleting all contents owned by the user only empty directories
746 If any additional cleanup work is required, this is left to the administrator.
751 files are always removed when an account is deleted as
752 these are unconditionally attached to the user name.
753 Jobs queued for processing by
755 are also removed if the user's uid is unique and not also used by another
756 account on the system.
760 command adds one additional option:
761 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
763 This option allows changing of an existing account name to
765 The new name must not already exist, and any attempt to duplicate an
766 existing account name will be rejected.
771 command allows viewing of an account in one of two formats.
772 By default, the format is identical to the format used in
773 .Pa /etc/master.passwd
774 with the password field replaced with a
780 outputs the account details in a more human readable form.
783 option is used, the account details are shown in v7 format.
786 option lists all users currently on file.
791 to print the details of an account even if it does not exist.
795 returns the next available user and group ids separated by a colon.
796 This is normally of interest only to interactive scripts or front-ends
804 options (explained at the start of the previous section) are available
805 with the group manipulation commands.
806 Other common options to all group-related commands are:
807 .Bl -tag -width "-m newmembers"
808 .It Oo Fl n Oc Ar name
812 Specify the group name.
820 Specify the group numeric id.
825 changes the numeric id of the named group.
827 As with the account name and id fields, you will usually only need
828 to supply one of these, as the group name implies the uid and vice
830 You will only need to use both when setting a specific group id
831 against a new group or when changing the uid of an existing group.
832 .It Fl M Ar memberlist
833 This option provides an alternative way to add existing users to a
836 or replace an existing membership list
839 is a comma separated list of valid and existing user names or uids.
840 .It Fl m Ar newmembers
843 this option allows the
845 of existing users to a group without replacing the existing list of
847 Login names or user ids may be used, and duplicate users are
849 .It Fl d Ar oldmembers
852 this option allows the
854 of existing users from a group without replacing the existing list of
856 Login names or user ids may be used, and duplicate users are
863 option that allows allocation of an existing group id to a new group.
864 The default action is to reject an attempt to add a group,
865 and this option overrides the check for duplicate group ids.
866 There is rarely any need to duplicate a group id.
870 command adds one additional option:
871 .Bl -tag -width "-m newmembers"
873 This option allows changing of an existing group name to
875 The new name must not already exist,
876 and any attempt to duplicate an existing group
877 name will be rejected.
888 to specify the group id.
891 option does not apply to the
897 returns the next available group id on standard output.
902 supports a simple password locking mechanism for users; it works by
903 prepending the string
905 to the beginning of the password field in
907 to prevent successful authentication.
913 commands take a user name or uid of the account to lock or unlock,
920 options as described above are accepted by these commands.
922 For a summary of options available with each command, you can use
923 .Dl pw [command] help
926 lists all available options for the
932 utility allows 8-bit characters in the passwd GECOS field (user's full name,
933 office, work and home phone number subfields), but disallows them in
934 user login and group names.
935 Use 8-bit characters with caution, as connection to the Internet will
936 require that your mail transport program supports 8BITMIME, and will
937 convert headers containing 8-bit characters to 7-bit quoted-printable
941 Use of 8-bit characters in the GECOS field should be used in
942 conjunction with the user's default locale and character set
943 and should not be implemented without their use.
944 Using 8-bit characters may also affect other
945 programs that transmit the contents of the GECOS field over the
948 and a small number of TCP/IP clients, such as IRC, where full names
949 specified in the passwd file may be used by default.
953 utility writes a log to the
955 file when actions such as user or group additions or deletions occur.
956 The location of this logfile can be changed in
959 .Bl -tag -width /etc/master.passwd.new -compact
960 .It Pa /etc/master.passwd
963 A Version 7 format password file
964 .It Pa /etc/login.conf
965 The user capabilities database
969 Pw default options file
970 .It Pa /var/log/userlog
971 User/group modification logfile
974 Add new user Glurmo Smith (gsmith).
975 A gsmith login group is created if not already present.
976 The login shell is set to
978 A new home directory at
980 is created if it does not already exist.
981 Finally, a random password is generated and displayed:
982 .Bd -literal -offset indent
983 pw useradd -n gsmith -c "Glurmo Smith" -s csh -m -w random
986 Delete the gsmith user and their home directory, including contents.
987 .Bd -literal -offset indent
988 pw userdel -n gsmith -r
991 Add the existing user jsmith to the wheel group,
992 in addition to the other groups jsmith is already a member of.
993 .Bd -literal -offset indent
994 pw groupmod wheel -m jsmith
997 Generate random password and show it in both plain text and
998 encrypted form not modifying any database.
999 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1000 pw usermod nobody -Nw random
1005 utility returns EXIT_SUCCESS on successful operation, otherwise
1008 following exit codes defined by
1011 .Bl -tag -width xxxx
1013 .Bl -bullet -compact
1015 Command line syntax errors (invalid keyword, unknown option).
1018 .Bl -bullet -compact
1020 Attempting to run one of the update modes as non-root.
1023 .Bl -bullet -compact
1025 Memory allocation error.
1027 Read error from password file descriptor.
1030 .Bl -bullet -compact
1032 Bad or invalid data provided or missing on the command line or
1033 via the password file descriptor.
1035 Attempted to remove, rename root account or change its uid.
1038 .Bl -bullet -compact
1040 Skeleton directory is invalid or does not exist.
1042 Base home directory is invalid or does not exist.
1044 Invalid or non-existent shell specified.
1047 .Bl -bullet -compact
1049 User, user id, group or group id specified does not exist.
1051 User or group recorded, added, or modified unexpectedly disappeared.
1054 .Bl -bullet -compact
1056 No more group or user ids available within specified range.
1059 .Bl -bullet -compact
1061 Unable to rewrite configuration file.
1063 Error updating group or user database files.
1065 Update error for passwd or group database files.
1068 .Bl -bullet -compact
1070 No base home directory configured.
1086 utility was written to mimic many of the options used in the SYSV
1088 support suite, but is modified for passwd and group fields specific to
1091 operating system, and combines all of the major elements
1092 into a single command.
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