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32 .Nd create, remove, modify & display system users and groups
55 .Op Fl h Ar fd | Fl H Ar fd
73 .Op Fl u Ar min , Ns Ar max
74 .Op Fl i Ar min , Ns Ar max
107 .Op Fl h Ar fd | Fl H Ar fd
136 .Op Fl h Ar fd | Fl H Ar fd
157 .Op Fl m Ar newmembers
158 .Op Fl d Ar oldmembers
159 .Op Fl h Ar fd | Fl H Ar fd
192 utility is a command-line based editor for the system
196 files, allowing the superuser an easy to use and standardized way of adding,
197 modifying and removing users and groups.
200 only operates on the local user and group files.
202 users and groups must be
208 utility handles updating the
212 and the secure and insecure
213 password database files, and must be run as root.
215 The first one or two keywords provided to
217 on the command line provide the context for the remainder of the arguments.
236 all mean the same thing.)
237 This flexibility is useful for interactive scripts calling
239 for user and group database manipulation.
240 Following these keywords, you may optionally specify the user or group name or numeric
241 id as an alternative to using the
247 The following flags are common to most or all modes of operation:
249 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
251 This flag sets an alternate location for the password, group and configuration files,
252 and may be used to maintain a user/group database in an alternate location.
253 If this switch is specified, the system
255 will not be sourced for default configuration data, but the file pw.conf in the
256 specified directory will be used instead (or none, if it does not exist).
259 flag may be used to override this behaviour.
260 As an exception to the general rule where options must follow the operation
263 flag may be used on the command line before the operation keyword.
269 to obtain policy information on how new user accounts and groups are to be created.
272 option specifies a different configuration file.
273 While most of the contents of the configuration file may be overridden via
274 command-line options, it may be more convenient to keep standard information in a
277 Use of this option causes
279 to suppress error messages, which may be useful in interactive environments where it
280 is preferable to interpret status codes returned by
282 rather than messing up a carefully formatted display.
284 This option is available in
288 operations, and tells
290 to output the result of the operation without updating the user or group
294 option to switch between standard passwd and readable formats.
296 Using this option with any of the update modes causes
300 after changing to the directory
302 This is intended to allow automatic updating of
305 If separate passwd and group files are being used by
309 option to specify the location of the
311 passwd database so that
313 will concurrently update it with the system password
317 The following options apply to the
323 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
325 Specify the user/account name.
327 Specify the user/account numeric id.
329 Usually, you only need to provide one or the other of these options, as the account
330 name will imply the uid, or vice versa.
331 However, there are times when you need to provide both.
332 For example, when changing the uid of an existing user with
334 or overriding the default uid when creating a new account.
337 to automatically allocate the uid to a new user with
344 You may also provide either the account or userid immediately after the
350 keywords on the command line without using the
357 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
359 This field sets the contents of the passwd GECOS field, which normally contains up
360 to four comma-separated fields containing the user's full name, office or location,
361 and work and home phone numbers.
362 These sub-fields are used by convention only, however, and are optional.
363 If this field is to contain spaces, you need to quote the comment itself with double
366 Avoid using commas in this field as these are used as sub-field separators, and the
369 character also cannot be used as this is the field separator for the passwd
372 This option sets the account's home directory.
373 Normally, you will only use this if the home directory is to be different from the
374 default determined from
378 with the account name as a subdirectory.
380 Set the account's expiration date.
381 Format of the date is either a UNIX time in decimal, or a date in
383 format, where dd is the day, mmm is the month, either in numeric or alphabetic format
384 ('Jan', 'Feb', etc) and year is either a two or four digit year.
385 This option also accepts a relative date in the form
389 is a decimal, octal (leading 0) or hexadecimal (leading 0x) digit followed by the
390 number of Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, Months or Years from the current date at
391 which the expiration date is to be set.
393 Set the account's password expiration date.
394 This field is similar to the account expiration date option, except that it
395 applies to forced password changes.
396 This is set in the same manner as the
400 Set the account's primary group to the given group.
402 may be defined by either its name or group number.
403 .It Fl G Ar grouplist
404 Set additional group memberships for an account.
406 is a comma, space or tab-separated list of group names or group numbers.
407 The user's name is added to the group lists in
410 removed from any groups not specified in
412 Note: a user should not be added to their primary group with
414 Also, group membership changes do not take effect for current user login
415 sessions, requiring the user to reconnect to be affected by the changes.
417 This option sets the login class for the user being created.
422 for more information on user login classes.
424 This option instructs
426 to attempt to create the user's home directory.
427 While primarily useful when adding a new account with
429 this may also be of use when moving an existing user's home directory elsewhere on
431 The new home directory is populated with the contents of the
433 directory, which typically contains a set of shell configuration files that the
434 user may personalize to taste.
435 Files in this directory are usually named
436 .Pa dot . Ns Aq Ar config
439 prefix will be stripped.
442 is used on an account with
444 existing configuration files in the user's home directory are
446 overwritten from the skeleton files.
448 When a user's home directory is created, it will by default be a subdirectory of the
450 directory as specified by the
452 option (see below), bearing the name of the new account.
453 This can be overridden by the
455 option on the command line, if desired.
457 Create the user's home directory with the specified
459 modified by the current
461 If omitted, it is derived from the parent process'
463 This option is only useful in combination with the
469 directory, from which basic startup and configuration files are copied when
470 the user's home directory is created.
471 This option only has meaning when used with the
477 Set or changes the user's login shell to
479 If the path to the shell program is omitted,
485 and fills it in as appropriate.
486 Note that unless you have a specific reason to do so, you should avoid
487 specifying the path - this will allow
489 to validate that the program exists and is executable.
490 Specifying a full path (or supplying a blank "" shell) avoids this check
491 and allows for such entries as
493 that should be set for accounts not intended for interactive login.
495 This option provides a special interface by which interactive scripts can
496 set an account password using
498 Because the command line and environment are fundamentally insecure mechanisms
499 by which programs can accept information,
501 will only allow setting of account and group passwords via a file descriptor
502 (usually a pipe between an interactive script and the program).
508 all possess mechanisms by which this can be done.
511 will prompt for the user's password if
515 as the file descriptor on which to read the password.
516 Note that this password will be read only once and is intended
517 for use by a script rather than for interactive use.
518 If you wish to have new password confirmation along the lines of
520 this must be implemented as part of an interactive script that calls
525 is given as the argument
527 then the password will be set to
529 rendering the account inaccessible via password-based login.
531 Read an encrypted password string from the specified file descriptor.
534 but the password should be supplied already encrypted in a form
535 suitable for writing directly to the password database.
538 It is possible to use
540 to create a new account that duplicates an existing user id.
541 While this is normally considered an error and will be rejected, the
543 option overrides the check for duplicates and allows the duplication of
545 This may be useful if you allow the same user to login under
546 different contexts (different group allocations, different home
547 directory, different shell) while providing basically the same
548 permissions for access to the user's files in each account.
552 command also has the ability to set new user and group defaults by using the
555 Instead of adding a new user,
557 writes a new set of defaults to its configuration file,
561 option, you must not use either
565 or an error will result.
568 changes the meaning of several command line switches in the
572 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
574 Set default values in
576 configuration file, or a different named configuration file if the
580 Set the root directory in which user home directories are created.
581 The default value for this is
583 but it may be set elsewhere as desired.
585 Set the default account expiration period in days.
588 the argument must be numeric, which specifies the number of days after creation when
589 the account is to expire.
590 A value of 0 suppresses automatic calculation of the expiry date.
592 Set the default password expiration period in days.
594 Set the default group for new users.
595 If a blank group is specified using
597 then new users will be allocated their own private primary group
598 with the same name as their login name.
599 If a group is supplied, either its name or uid may be given as an argument.
600 .It Fl G Ar grouplist
601 Set the default groups in which new users are granted membership.
602 This is a separate set of groups from the primary group, and you should avoid
603 nominating the same group as both primary and extra groups.
604 In other words, these extra groups determine membership in groups
608 is a comma-separated list of group names or ids, and are always
611 by their symbolic names.
613 This option sets the default login class for new users.
617 directory, from which prototype shell and other initialization files are copied when
619 creates a user's home directory.
622 for naming conventions of these files.
624 .Fl u Ar min , Ns Ar max ,
625 .Fl i Ar min , Ns Ar max
627 These options set the minimum and maximum user and group ids allocated for new accounts
628 and groups created by
630 The default values for each is 1000 minimum and 32000 maximum.
634 are both numbers, where max must be greater than min, and both must be between 0
636 In general, user and group ids less than 100 are reserved for use by the system,
637 and numbers greater than 32000 may also be reserved for special purposes (used by
638 some system daemons).
642 option sets the default method used to set passwords for newly created user accounts.
646 .Bl -tag -width random -offset indent -compact
648 disable login on newly created accounts
650 force the password to be the account name
652 force a blank password
654 generate a random password
661 methods are the most secure; in the former case,
663 generates a password and prints it to stdout, which is suitable where you issue
664 users with passwords to access their accounts rather than having the user nominate
665 their own (possibly poorly chosen) password.
668 method requires that the superuser use
670 to render the account accessible with a password.
672 This sets the pathname of the database used by
674 if you are not sharing
676 .Pa /etc/master.passwd
679 You should only set this option for
686 command has only three valid options.
691 options have already been covered above.
692 The additional option is:
693 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
697 to remove the user's home directory and all of its contents.
700 utility errs on the side of caution when removing files from the system.
701 Firstly, it will not do so if the uid of the account being removed is also used by
702 another account on the system, and the 'home' directory in the password file is
703 a valid path that commences with the character
705 Secondly, it will only remove files and directories that are actually owned by
706 the user, or symbolic links owned by anyone under the user's home directory.
707 Finally, after deleting all contents owned by the user only empty directories
709 If any additional cleanup work is required, this is left to the administrator.
712 Mail spool files and crontabs are always removed when an account is deleted as these
713 are unconditionally attached to the user name.
714 Jobs queued for processing by
716 are also removed if the user's uid is unique and not also used by another account on the
721 command allows viewing of an account in one of two formats.
722 By default, the format is identical to the format used in
723 .Pa /etc/master.passwd
724 with the password field replaced with a
730 outputs the account details in a more human readable form.
733 option is used, the account details are shown in v7 format.
736 option lists all users currently on file.
741 to print the details of an account even if it does not exist.
745 returns the next available user and group ids separated by a colon.
746 This is normally of interest only to interactive scripts or front-ends
754 options (explained at the start of the previous section) are available
755 with the group manipulation commands.
756 Other common options to all group-related commands are:
757 .Bl -tag -width "-m newmembers"
759 Specify the group name.
761 Specify the group numeric id.
763 As with the account name and id fields, you will usually only need
764 to supply one of these, as the group name implies the uid and vice
766 You will only need to use both when setting a specific group id
767 against a new group or when changing the uid of an existing group.
768 .It Fl M Ar memberlist
769 This option provides an alternative way to add existing users to a
770 new group (in groupadd) or replace an existing membership list (in
773 is a comma separated list of valid and existing user names or uids.
774 .It Fl m Ar newmembers
777 this option allows the
779 of existing users to a group without replacing the existing list of
781 Login names or user ids may be used, and duplicate users are
783 .It Fl d Ar oldmembers
786 this option allows the
788 of existing users from a group without replacing the existing list of
790 Login names or user ids may be used, and duplicate users are
797 option that allows allocation of an existing group id to a new group.
798 The default action is to reject an attempt to add a group, and this option overrides
799 the check for duplicate group ids.
800 There is rarely any need to duplicate a group id.
804 command adds one additional option:
806 .Bl -tag -width "-m newmembers"
808 This option allows changing of an existing group name to
810 The new name must not already exist, and any attempt to duplicate an existing group
811 name will be rejected.
822 to specify the group id.
825 option does not apply to the
831 returns the next available group id on standard output.
836 supports a simple password locking mechanism for users; it works by
837 prepending the string
839 to the beginning of the password field in
841 to prevent successful authentication.
847 commands take a user name or uid of the account to lock or unlock,
854 options as described above are accepted by these commands.
856 For a summary of options available with each command, you can use
857 .Dl pw [command] help
860 lists all available options for the useradd operation.
864 utility allows 8-bit characters in the passwd GECOS field (user's full name,
865 office, work and home phone number subfields), but disallows them in
866 user login and group names.
867 Use 8-bit characters with caution, as connection to the Internet will
868 require that your mail transport program supports 8BITMIME, and will
869 convert headers containing 8-bit characters to 7-bit quoted-printable
873 Use of 8-bit characters in the GECOS field should be used in
874 conjunction with the user's default locale and character set
875 and should not be implemented without their use.
876 Using 8-bit characters may also affect other
877 programs that transmit the contents of the GECOS field over the
880 and a small number of TCP/IP clients, such as IRC, where full names
881 specified in the passwd file may be used by default.
885 utility writes a log to the
887 file when actions such as user or group additions or deletions occur.
888 The location of this logfile can be changed in
891 .Bl -tag -width /etc/master.passwd.new -compact
892 .It Pa /etc/master.passwd
895 A Version 7 format password file
896 .It Pa /etc/login.conf
897 The user capabilities database
900 .It Pa /etc/master.passwd.new
901 Temporary copy of the master password file
902 .It Pa /etc/passwd.new
903 Temporary copy of the Version 7 password file
904 .It Pa /etc/group.new
905 Temporary copy of the group file
907 Pw default options file
908 .It Pa /var/log/userlog
909 User/group modification logfile
914 utility returns EXIT_SUCCESS on successful operation, otherwise
917 following exit codes defined by
924 Command line syntax errors (invalid keyword, unknown option).
929 Attempting to run one of the update modes as non-root.
934 Memory allocation error.
936 Read error from password file descriptor.
941 Bad or invalid data provided or missing on the command line or
942 via the password file descriptor.
944 Attempted to remove, rename root account or change its uid.
949 Skeleton directory is invalid or does not exist.
951 Base home directory is invalid or does not exist.
953 Invalid or non-existent shell specified.
958 User, user id, group or group id specified does not exist.
960 User or group recorded, added, or modified unexpectedly disappeared.
965 No more group or user ids available within specified range.
970 Unable to rewrite configuration file.
972 Error updating group or user database files.
974 Update error for passwd or group database files.
979 No base home directory configured.
995 utility was written to mimic many of the options used in the SYSV
997 support suite, but is modified for passwd and group fields specific to
1000 operating system, and combines all of the major elements
1001 into a single command.
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