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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:
248 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
250 This flag sets an alternate location for the password, group and configuration files,
251 and may be used to maintain a user/group database in an alternate location.
252 If this switch is specified, the system
254 will not be sourced for default configuration data, but the file pw.conf in the
255 specified directory will be used instead (or none, if it does not exist).
258 flag may be used to override this behaviour.
259 As an exception to the general rule where options must follow the operation
262 flag may be used on the command line before the operation keyword.
268 to obtain policy information on how new user accounts and groups are to be created.
271 option specifies a different configuration file.
272 While most of the contents of the configuration file may be overridden via
273 command-line options, it may be more convenient to keep standard information in a
276 Use of this option causes
278 to suppress error messages, which may be useful in interactive environments where it
279 is preferable to interpret status codes returned by
281 rather than messing up a carefully formatted display.
283 This option is available in
287 operations, and tells
289 to output the result of the operation without updating the user or group
293 option to switch between standard passwd and readable formats.
295 Using this option with any of the update modes causes
299 after changing to the directory
301 This is intended to allow automatic updating of
304 If separate passwd and group files are being used by
308 option to specify the location of the
310 passwd database so that
312 will concurrently update it with the system password
316 The following options apply to the
321 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
323 Specify the user/account name.
325 Specify the user/account numeric id.
327 Usually, you only need to provide one or the other of these options, as the account
328 name will imply the uid, or vice versa.
329 However, there are times when you need to provide both.
330 For example, when changing the uid of an existing user with
332 or overriding the default uid when creating a new account.
335 to automatically allocate the uid to a new user with
342 You may also provide either the account or userid immediately after the
348 keywords on the command line without using the
354 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
356 This field sets the contents of the passwd GECOS field, which normally contains up
357 to four comma-separated fields containing the user's full name, office or location,
358 and work and home phone numbers.
359 These sub-fields are used by convention only, however, and are optional.
360 If this field is to contain spaces, you need to quote the comment itself with double
363 Avoid using commas in this field as these are used as sub-field separators, and the
366 character also cannot be used as this is the field separator for the passwd
369 This option sets the account's home directory.
370 Normally, you will only use this if the home directory is to be different from the
371 default determined from
375 with the account name as a subdirectory.
377 Set the account's expiration date.
378 Format of the date is either a UNIX time in decimal, or a date in
380 format, where dd is the day, mmm is the month, either in numeric or alphabetic format
381 ('Jan', 'Feb', etc) and year is either a two or four digit year.
382 This option also accepts a relative date in the form
386 is a decimal, octal (leading 0) or hexadecimal (leading 0x) digit followed by the
387 number of Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, Months or Years from the current date at
388 which the expiration date is to be set.
390 Set the account's password expiration date.
391 This field is similar to the account expiration date option, except that it
392 applies to forced password changes.
393 This is set in the same manner as the
397 Set the account's primary group to the given group.
399 may be defined by either its name or group number.
400 .It Fl G Ar grouplist
401 Set additional group memberships for an account.
403 is a comma, space or tab-separated list of group names or group numbers.
404 The user's name is added to the group lists in
407 removed from any groups not specified in
409 Note: a user should not be added to their primary group with
411 Also, group membership changes do not take effect for current user login
412 sessions, requiring the user to reconnect to be affected by the changes.
414 This option sets the login class for the user being created.
419 for more information on user login classes.
421 This option instructs
423 to attempt to create the user's home directory.
424 While primarily useful when adding a new account with
426 this may also be of use when moving an existing user's home directory elsewhere on
428 The new home directory is populated with the contents of the
430 directory, which typically contains a set of shell configuration files that the
431 user may personalize to taste.
432 Files in this directory are usually named
433 .Pa dot . Ns Aq Ar config
436 prefix will be stripped.
439 is used on an account with
441 existing configuration files in the user's home directory are
443 overwritten from the skeleton files.
445 When a user's home directory is created, it will by default be a subdirectory of the
447 directory as specified by the
449 option (see below), bearing the name of the new account.
450 This can be overridden by the
452 option on the command line, if desired.
454 Create the user's home directory with the specified
456 modified by the current
458 If omitted, it is derived from the parent process'
460 This option is only useful in combination with the
466 directory, from which basic startup and configuration files are copied when
467 the user's home directory is created.
468 This option only has meaning when used with the
474 Set or changes the user's login shell to
476 If the path to the shell program is omitted,
482 and fills it in as appropriate.
483 Note that unless you have a specific reason to do so, you should avoid
484 specifying the path - this will allow
486 to validate that the program exists and is executable.
487 Specifying a full path (or supplying a blank "" shell) avoids this check
488 and allows for such entries as
490 that should be set for accounts not intended for interactive login.
492 This option provides a special interface by which interactive scripts can
493 set an account password using
495 Because the command line and environment are fundamentally insecure mechanisms
496 by which programs can accept information,
498 will only allow setting of account and group passwords via a file descriptor
499 (usually a pipe between an interactive script and the program).
505 all possess mechanisms by which this can be done.
508 will prompt for the user's password if
512 as the file descriptor on which to read the password.
513 Note that this password will be read only once and is intended
514 for use by a script rather than for interactive use.
515 If you wish to have new password confirmation along the lines of
517 this must be implemented as part of an interactive script that calls
522 is given as the argument
524 then the password will be set to
526 rendering the account inaccessible via password-based login.
528 Read an encrypted password string from the specified file descriptor.
531 but the password should be supplied already encrypted in a form
532 suitable for writing directly to the password database.
535 It is possible to use
537 to create a new account that duplicates an existing user id.
538 While this is normally considered an error and will be rejected, the
540 option overrides the check for duplicates and allows the duplication of
542 This may be useful if you allow the same user to login under
543 different contexts (different group allocations, different home
544 directory, different shell) while providing basically the same
545 permissions for access to the user's files in each account.
549 command also has the ability to set new user and group defaults by using the
552 Instead of adding a new user,
554 writes a new set of defaults to its configuration file,
558 option, you must not use either
562 or an error will result.
565 changes the meaning of several command line switches in the
569 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
571 Set default values in
573 configuration file, or a different named configuration file if the
577 Set the root directory in which user home directories are created.
578 The default value for this is
580 but it may be set elsewhere as desired.
582 Set the default account expiration period in days.
585 the argument must be numeric, which specifies the number of days after creation when
586 the account is to expire.
587 A value of 0 suppresses automatic calculation of the expiry date.
589 Set the default password expiration period in days.
591 Set the default group for new users.
592 If a blank group is specified using
594 then new users will be allocated their own private primary group
595 with the same name as their login name.
596 If a group is supplied, either its name or uid may be given as an argument.
597 .It Fl G Ar grouplist
598 Set the default groups in which new users are granted membership.
599 This is a separate set of groups from the primary group, and you should avoid
600 nominating the same group as both primary and extra groups.
601 In other words, these extra groups determine membership in groups
605 is a comma-separated list of group names or ids, and are always
608 by their symbolic names.
610 This option sets the default login class for new users.
614 directory, from which prototype shell and other initialization files are copied when
616 creates a user's home directory.
619 for naming conventions of these files.
621 .Fl u Ar min , Ns Ar max ,
622 .Fl i Ar min , Ns Ar max
624 These options set the minimum and maximum user and group ids allocated for new accounts
625 and groups created by
627 The default values for each is 1000 minimum and 32000 maximum.
631 are both numbers, where max must be greater than min, and both must be between 0
633 In general, user and group ids less than 100 are reserved for use by the system,
634 and numbers greater than 32000 may also be reserved for special purposes (used by
635 some system daemons).
639 option sets the default method used to set passwords for newly created user accounts.
643 .Bl -tag -width random -offset indent -compact
645 disable login on newly created accounts
647 force the password to be the account name
649 force a blank password
651 generate a random password
658 methods are the most secure; in the former case,
660 generates a password and prints it to stdout, which is suitable where you issue
661 users with passwords to access their accounts rather than having the user nominate
662 their own (possibly poorly chosen) password.
665 method requires that the superuser use
667 to render the account accessible with a password.
669 This sets the pathname of the database used by
671 if you are not sharing
673 .Pa /etc/master.passwd
676 You should only set this option for
683 command has only three valid options.
688 options have already been covered above.
689 The additional option is:
690 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
694 to remove the user's home directory and all of its contents.
697 utility errs on the side of caution when removing files from the system.
698 Firstly, it will not do so if the uid of the account being removed is also used by
699 another account on the system, and the 'home' directory in the password file is
700 a valid path that commences with the character
702 Secondly, it will only remove files and directories that are actually owned by
703 the user, or symbolic links owned by anyone under the user's home directory.
704 Finally, after deleting all contents owned by the user only empty directories
706 If any additional cleanup work is required, this is left to the administrator.
709 Mail spool files and crontabs are always removed when an account is deleted as these
710 are unconditionally attached to the user name.
711 Jobs queued for processing by
713 are also removed if the user's uid is unique and not also used by another account on the
718 command adds one additional option:
719 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
721 This option allows changing of an existing account name to
723 The new name must not already exist, and any attempt to duplicate an
724 existing account name will be rejected.
729 command allows viewing of an account in one of two formats.
730 By default, the format is identical to the format used in
731 .Pa /etc/master.passwd
732 with the password field replaced with a
738 outputs the account details in a more human readable form.
741 option is used, the account details are shown in v7 format.
744 option lists all users currently on file.
749 to print the details of an account even if it does not exist.
753 returns the next available user and group ids separated by a colon.
754 This is normally of interest only to interactive scripts or front-ends
762 options (explained at the start of the previous section) are available
763 with the group manipulation commands.
764 Other common options to all group-related commands are:
765 .Bl -tag -width "-m newmembers"
767 Specify the group name.
769 Specify the group numeric id.
771 As with the account name and id fields, you will usually only need
772 to supply one of these, as the group name implies the uid and vice
774 You will only need to use both when setting a specific group id
775 against a new group or when changing the uid of an existing group.
776 .It Fl M Ar memberlist
777 This option provides an alternative way to add existing users to a
778 new group (in groupadd) or replace an existing membership list (in
781 is a comma separated list of valid and existing user names or uids.
782 .It Fl m Ar newmembers
785 this option allows the
787 of existing users to a group without replacing the existing list of
789 Login names or user ids may be used, and duplicate users are
791 .It Fl d Ar oldmembers
794 this option allows the
796 of existing users from a group without replacing the existing list of
798 Login names or user ids may be used, and duplicate users are
805 option that allows allocation of an existing group id to a new group.
806 The default action is to reject an attempt to add a group, and this option overrides
807 the check for duplicate group ids.
808 There is rarely any need to duplicate a group id.
812 command adds one additional option:
813 .Bl -tag -width "-m newmembers"
815 This option allows changing of an existing group name to
817 The new name must not already exist, and any attempt to duplicate an existing group
818 name will be rejected.
829 to specify the group id.
832 option does not apply to the
838 returns the next available group id on standard output.
843 supports a simple password locking mechanism for users; it works by
844 prepending the string
846 to the beginning of the password field in
848 to prevent successful authentication.
854 commands take a user name or uid of the account to lock or unlock,
861 options as described above are accepted by these commands.
863 For a summary of options available with each command, you can use
864 .Dl pw [command] help
867 lists all available options for the useradd operation.
871 utility allows 8-bit characters in the passwd GECOS field (user's full name,
872 office, work and home phone number subfields), but disallows them in
873 user login and group names.
874 Use 8-bit characters with caution, as connection to the Internet will
875 require that your mail transport program supports 8BITMIME, and will
876 convert headers containing 8-bit characters to 7-bit quoted-printable
880 Use of 8-bit characters in the GECOS field should be used in
881 conjunction with the user's default locale and character set
882 and should not be implemented without their use.
883 Using 8-bit characters may also affect other
884 programs that transmit the contents of the GECOS field over the
887 and a small number of TCP/IP clients, such as IRC, where full names
888 specified in the passwd file may be used by default.
892 utility writes a log to the
894 file when actions such as user or group additions or deletions occur.
895 The location of this logfile can be changed in
898 .Bl -tag -width /etc/master.passwd.new -compact
899 .It Pa /etc/master.passwd
902 A Version 7 format password file
903 .It Pa /etc/login.conf
904 The user capabilities database
907 .It Pa /etc/master.passwd.new
908 Temporary copy of the master password file
909 .It Pa /etc/passwd.new
910 Temporary copy of the Version 7 password file
911 .It Pa /etc/group.new
912 Temporary copy of the group file
914 Pw default options file
915 .It Pa /var/log/userlog
916 User/group modification logfile
921 utility returns EXIT_SUCCESS on successful operation, otherwise
924 following exit codes defined by
931 Command line syntax errors (invalid keyword, unknown option).
936 Attempting to run one of the update modes as non-root.
941 Memory allocation error.
943 Read error from password file descriptor.
948 Bad or invalid data provided or missing on the command line or
949 via the password file descriptor.
951 Attempted to remove, rename root account or change its uid.
956 Skeleton directory is invalid or does not exist.
958 Base home directory is invalid or does not exist.
960 Invalid or non-existent shell specified.
965 User, user id, group or group id specified does not exist.
967 User or group recorded, added, or modified unexpectedly disappeared.
972 No more group or user ids available within specified range.
977 Unable to rewrite configuration file.
979 Error updating group or user database files.
981 Update error for passwd or group database files.
986 No base home directory configured.
1002 utility was written to mimic many of the options used in the SYSV
1004 support suite, but is modified for passwd and group fields specific to
1007 operating system, and combines all of the major elements
1008 into a single command.
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