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32 .Nd create, remove, modify & display system users and groups
38 .Oo Fl n Oc name Oo Fl u Ar uid Oc
54 .Op Fl h Ar fd | Fl H Ar fd
72 .Op Fl u Ar min , Ns Ar max
73 .Op Fl i Ar min , Ns Ar max
81 .Oo Fl n Oc name|uid | Fl u Ar uid
88 .Oo Fl n Oc name|uid Oo Fl u Ar newuid Oc | Fl u Ar uid
104 .Op Fl h Ar fd | Fl H Ar fd
112 .Oo Fl n Oc name|uid | Fl u Ar uid
127 .Oo Fl n Oc name Oo Fl g Ar gid Oc
132 .Op Fl h Ar fd | Fl H Ar fd
140 .Oo Fl n Oc name|gid | Fl g Ar gid
146 .Oo Fl n Oc name|gid Oo Fl g Ar newgid Oc | Fl g Ar gid
151 .Op Fl m Ar newmembers
152 .Op Fl d Ar oldmembers
153 .Op Fl h Ar fd | Fl H Ar fd
161 .Oo Fl n Oc name|gid | Fl g Ar gid
175 .Oo Fl n Oc name|uid | Fl u Ar uid
182 .Oo Fl n Oc name|uid | Fl u Ar uid
188 utility is a command-line based editor for the system
192 files, allowing the superuser an easy to use and standardized way of adding,
193 modifying and removing users and groups.
196 only operates on the local user and group files.
198 users and groups must be
204 utility handles updating the
208 and the secure and insecure
209 password database files, and must be run as root.
211 The first one or two keywords provided to
213 on the command line provide the context for the remainder of the arguments.
232 all mean the same thing.)
233 This flexibility is useful for interactive scripts calling
235 for user and group database manipulation.
236 Following these keywords,
237 the user or group name or numeric id may be optionally specified as an
238 alternative to using the
244 The following flags are common to most or all modes of operation:
245 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
247 Specifies an alternate root directory within which
250 Any paths specified will be relative to
253 Set an alternate location for the password, group, and configuration files.
254 Can be used to maintain a user/group database in an alternate location.
255 If this switch is specified, the system
257 will not be sourced for default configuration data,
258 but the file pw.conf in the specified directory will be used instead
259 .Pq or none, if it does not exist .
262 flag may be used to override this behaviour.
263 As an exception to the general rule where options must follow the operation
266 flag must be used on the command line before the operation keyword.
272 to obtain policy information on how new user accounts and groups are to be created.
275 option specifies a different configuration file.
276 While most of the contents of the configuration file may be overridden via
277 command-line options, it may be more convenient to keep standard information in a
280 Use of this option causes
282 to suppress error messages,
283 which may be useful in interactive environments where it
284 is preferable to interpret status codes returned by
286 rather than messing up a carefully formatted display.
288 This option is available in
292 operations, and tells
294 to output the result of the operation without updating the user or group
298 option to switch between standard passwd and readable formats.
300 Using this option with any of the update modes causes
304 after changing to the directory
306 This is intended to allow automatic updating of
309 If separate passwd and group files are being used by
313 option to specify the location of the
315 passwd database so that
317 will concurrently update it with the system password
321 The following options apply to the
326 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
327 .It Oo Fl n Oc Ar name
331 Specify the user/account name.
339 Specify the user/account numeric id.
344 changes the numeric id of the named user/account.
346 Usually, only one of these options is required,
347 as the account name will imply the uid, or vice versa.
348 However, there are times when both are needed.
349 For example, when changing the uid of an existing user with
351 or overriding the default uid when creating a new account with
353 To automatically allocate the uid to a new user with
360 Either the account or userid can also be provided immediately after the
366 keywords on the command line without using the
372 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
374 This field sets the contents of the passwd GECOS field,
375 which normally contains up to four comma-separated fields containing the
376 user's full name, office or location,
377 and work and home phone numbers.
378 These sub-fields are used by convention only, however, and are optional.
379 If this field is to contain spaces,
380 the comment must be enclosed in double quotes
382 Avoid using commas in this field as these are used as sub-field separators,
385 character also cannot be used as this is the field separator for the passwd
388 This option sets the account's home directory.
390 this is only used if the home directory is to be different from the
391 default determined from
395 with the account name as a subdirectory.
397 Set the account's expiration date.
398 Format of the date is either a UNIX time in decimal, or a date in
400 format, where dd is the day,
401 mmm is the month, either in numeric or alphabetic format
402 ('Jan', 'Feb', etc) and year is either a two or four digit year.
403 This option also accepts a relative date in the form
408 octal (leading 0) or hexadecimal (leading 0x) digit followed by the
409 number of Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, Months or Years from the current date at
410 which the expiration date is to be set.
412 Set the account's password expiration date.
413 This field is similar to the account expiration date option, except that it
414 applies to forced password changes.
415 This is set in the same manner as the
419 Set the account's primary group to the given group.
421 may be defined by either its name or group number.
422 .It Fl G Ar grouplist
423 Set secondary group memberships for an account.
425 is a comma, space, or tab-separated list of group names or group numbers.
426 The user is added to the groups specified in
428 and removed from all groups not specified.
429 The current login session is not affected by group membership changes,
430 which only take effect when the user reconnects.
431 Note: do not add a user to their primary group with
434 This option sets the login class for the user being created.
439 for more information on user login classes.
441 This option instructs
443 to attempt to create the user's home directory.
444 While primarily useful when adding a new account with
446 this may also be of use when moving an existing user's home directory elsewhere
448 The new home directory is populated with the contents of the
450 directory, which typically contains a set of shell configuration files that the
451 user may personalize to taste.
452 Files in this directory are usually named
453 .Pa dot . Ns Aq Ar config
456 prefix will be stripped.
459 is used on an account with
461 existing configuration files in the user's home directory are
463 overwritten from the skeleton files.
465 When a user's home directory is created,
466 it will by default be a subdirectory of the
468 directory as specified by the
470 option (see below), bearing the name of the new account.
471 This can be overridden by the
473 option on the command line, if desired.
475 Create the user's home directory with the specified
477 modified by the current
479 If omitted, it is derived from the parent process'
481 This option is only useful in combination with the
487 directory, from which basic startup and configuration files are copied when
488 the user's home directory is created.
489 This option only has meaning when used with the
495 Set or changes the user's login shell to
497 If the path to the shell program is omitted,
503 and fills it in as appropriate.
504 Note that unless you have a specific reason to do so, you should avoid
505 specifying the path - this will allow
507 to validate that the program exists and is executable.
508 Specifying a full path (or supplying a blank "" shell) avoids this check
509 and allows for such entries as
511 that should be set for accounts not intended for interactive login.
513 This option provides a special interface by which interactive scripts can
514 set an account password using
516 Because the command line and environment are fundamentally insecure mechanisms
517 by which programs can accept information,
519 will only allow setting of account and group passwords via a file descriptor
520 (usually a pipe between an interactive script and the program).
526 all possess mechanisms by which this can be done.
529 will prompt for the user's password if
533 as the file descriptor on which to read the password.
534 Note that this password will be read only once and is intended
535 for use by a script rather than for interactive use.
536 If you wish to have new password confirmation along the lines of
538 this must be implemented as part of an interactive script that calls
543 is given as the argument
545 then the password will be set to
547 rendering the account inaccessible via password-based login.
549 Read an encrypted password string from the specified file descriptor.
552 but the password should be supplied already encrypted in a form
553 suitable for writing directly to the password database.
556 It is possible to use
558 to create a new account that duplicates an existing user id.
559 While this is normally considered an error and will be rejected, the
561 option overrides the check for duplicates and allows the duplication of
563 This may be useful if you allow the same user to login under
564 different contexts (different group allocations, different home
565 directory, different shell) while providing basically the same
566 permissions for access to the user's files in each account.
570 command also has the ability to set new user and group defaults by using the
573 Instead of adding a new user,
575 writes a new set of defaults to its configuration file,
579 option, you must not use either
583 or an error will result.
586 changes the meaning of several command line switches in the
590 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
592 Set default values in
594 configuration file, or a different named configuration file if the
598 Set the root directory in which user home directories are created.
599 The default value for this is
601 but it may be set elsewhere as desired.
603 Set the default account expiration period in days.
608 argument is interpreted differently.
609 It must be numeric and represents the number of days after creation
610 that the account expires.
611 A value of 0 suppresses automatic calculation of the expiry date.
613 Set the default password expiration period in days.
618 argument is interpreted differently.
619 It must be numeric and represents the number of days after creation
620 that the account expires.
621 A value of 0 suppresses automatic calculation of the expiry date.
623 Set the default group for new users.
624 If a blank group is specified using
626 then new users will be allocated their own private primary group
627 with the same name as their login name.
628 If a group is supplied, either its name or uid may be given as an argument.
629 .It Fl G Ar grouplist
630 Set the default groups in which new users are granted membership.
631 This is a separate set of groups from the primary group.
632 Avoid nominating the same group as both primary and extra groups.
633 In other words, these extra groups determine membership in groups
637 is a comma-separated list of group names or ids, and are always
640 by their symbolic names.
642 This option sets the default login class for new users.
647 from which prototype shell and other initialization files are copied when
649 creates a user's home directory.
652 for naming conventions of these files.
654 .Fl u Ar min , Ns Ar max ,
655 .Fl i Ar min , Ns Ar max
657 Set the minimum and maximum user and group ids allocated for new
658 accounts and groups created by
660 The default values for each is 1000 minimum and 32000 maximum.
664 are both numbers, where max must be greater than min,
665 and both must be between 0 and 32767.
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 .
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 'home' directory in the password file is
738 a valid path that commences with the character
740 Secondly, it will only remove files and directories that are actually owned by
741 the user, or symbolic links owned by anyone under the user's home directory.
742 Finally, after deleting all contents owned by the user only empty directories
744 If any additional cleanup work is required, this is left to the administrator.
747 Mail spool files and crontabs are always removed when an account is deleted as
748 these are unconditionally attached to the user name.
749 Jobs queued for processing by
751 are also removed if the user's uid is unique and not also used by another
752 account on the system.
756 command adds one additional option:
757 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
759 This option allows changing of an existing account name to
761 The new name must not already exist, and any attempt to duplicate an
762 existing account name will be rejected.
767 command allows viewing of an account in one of two formats.
768 By default, the format is identical to the format used in
769 .Pa /etc/master.passwd
770 with the password field replaced with a
776 outputs the account details in a more human readable form.
779 option is used, the account details are shown in v7 format.
782 option lists all users currently on file.
787 to print the details of an account even if it does not exist.
791 returns the next available user and group ids separated by a colon.
792 This is normally of interest only to interactive scripts or front-ends
800 options (explained at the start of the previous section) are available
801 with the group manipulation commands.
802 Other common options to all group-related commands are:
803 .Bl -tag -width "-m newmembers"
804 .It Oo Fl n Oc Ar name
808 Specify the group name.
816 Specify the group numeric id.
821 changes the numeric id of the named group.
823 As with the account name and id fields, you will usually only need
824 to supply one of these, as the group name implies the uid and vice
826 You will only need to use both when setting a specific group id
827 against a new group or when changing the uid of an existing group.
828 .It Fl M Ar memberlist
829 This option provides an alternative way to add existing users to a
830 new group (in groupadd) or replace an existing membership list (in
833 is a comma separated list of valid and existing user names or uids.
834 .It Fl m Ar newmembers
837 this option allows the
839 of existing users to a group without replacing the existing list of
841 Login names or user ids may be used, and duplicate users are
843 .It Fl d Ar oldmembers
846 this option allows the
848 of existing users from a group without replacing the existing list of
850 Login names or user ids may be used, and duplicate users are
857 option that allows allocation of an existing group id to a new group.
858 The default action is to reject an attempt to add a group,
859 and this option overrides the check for duplicate group ids.
860 There is rarely any need to duplicate a group id.
864 command adds one additional option:
865 .Bl -tag -width "-m newmembers"
867 This option allows changing of an existing group name to
869 The new name must not already exist,
870 and any attempt to duplicate an existing group
871 name will be rejected.
882 to specify the group id.
885 option does not apply to the
891 returns the next available group id on standard output.
896 supports a simple password locking mechanism for users; it works by
897 prepending the string
899 to the beginning of the password field in
901 to prevent successful authentication.
907 commands take a user name or uid of the account to lock or unlock,
914 options as described above are accepted by these commands.
916 For a summary of options available with each command, you can use
917 .Dl pw [command] help
920 lists all available options for the useradd operation.
924 utility allows 8-bit characters in the passwd GECOS field (user's full name,
925 office, work and home phone number subfields), but disallows them in
926 user login and group names.
927 Use 8-bit characters with caution, as connection to the Internet will
928 require that your mail transport program supports 8BITMIME, and will
929 convert headers containing 8-bit characters to 7-bit quoted-printable
933 Use of 8-bit characters in the GECOS field should be used in
934 conjunction with the user's default locale and character set
935 and should not be implemented without their use.
936 Using 8-bit characters may also affect other
937 programs that transmit the contents of the GECOS field over the
940 and a small number of TCP/IP clients, such as IRC, where full names
941 specified in the passwd file may be used by default.
945 utility writes a log to the
947 file when actions such as user or group additions or deletions occur.
948 The location of this logfile can be changed in
951 .Bl -tag -width /etc/master.passwd.new -compact
952 .It Pa /etc/master.passwd
955 A Version 7 format password file
956 .It Pa /etc/login.conf
957 The user capabilities database
961 Pw default options file
962 .It Pa /var/log/userlog
963 User/group modification logfile
966 Add new user Glurmo Smith (gsmith).
967 A gsmith login group is created if not already present.
968 The login shell is set to
970 A new home directory at
972 is created if it does not already exist.
973 Finally, a random password is generated and displayed:
974 .Bd -literal -offset indent
975 pw useradd -n gsmith -c "Glurmo Smith" -s /bin/csh -m -w random
980 utility returns EXIT_SUCCESS on successful operation, otherwise
983 following exit codes defined by
990 Command line syntax errors (invalid keyword, unknown option).
995 Attempting to run one of the update modes as non-root.
1000 Memory allocation error.
1002 Read error from password file descriptor.
1005 .Bl -bullet -compact
1007 Bad or invalid data provided or missing on the command line or
1008 via the password file descriptor.
1010 Attempted to remove, rename root account or change its uid.
1013 .Bl -bullet -compact
1015 Skeleton directory is invalid or does not exist.
1017 Base home directory is invalid or does not exist.
1019 Invalid or non-existent shell specified.
1022 .Bl -bullet -compact
1024 User, user id, group or group id specified does not exist.
1026 User or group recorded, added, or modified unexpectedly disappeared.
1029 .Bl -bullet -compact
1031 No more group or user ids available within specified range.
1034 .Bl -bullet -compact
1036 Unable to rewrite configuration file.
1038 Error updating group or user database files.
1040 Update error for passwd or group database files.
1043 .Bl -bullet -compact
1045 No base home directory configured.
1061 utility was written to mimic many of the options used in the SYSV
1063 support suite, but is modified for passwd and group fields specific to
1066 operating system, and combines all of the major elements
1067 into a single command.
projects / FreeBSD / stable / 10.git / blob