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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 additional group memberships for an account.
425 is a comma, space or tab-separated list of group names or group numbers.
426 The user's name is added to the group lists in
429 removed from any groups not specified in
431 Note: a user should not be added to their primary group with
433 Also, group membership changes do not take effect for current user login
434 sessions, requiring the user to reconnect to be affected by the changes.
436 This option sets the login class for the user being created.
441 for more information on user login classes.
443 This option instructs
445 to attempt to create the user's home directory.
446 While primarily useful when adding a new account with
448 this may also be of use when moving an existing user's home directory elsewhere
450 The new home directory is populated with the contents of the
452 directory, which typically contains a set of shell configuration files that the
453 user may personalize to taste.
454 Files in this directory are usually named
455 .Pa dot . Ns Aq Ar config
458 prefix will be stripped.
461 is used on an account with
463 existing configuration files in the user's home directory are
465 overwritten from the skeleton files.
467 When a user's home directory is created,
468 it will by default be a subdirectory of the
470 directory as specified by the
472 option (see below), bearing the name of the new account.
473 This can be overridden by the
475 option on the command line, if desired.
477 Create the user's home directory with the specified
479 modified by the current
481 If omitted, it is derived from the parent process'
483 This option is only useful in combination with the
489 directory, from which basic startup and configuration files are copied when
490 the user's home directory is created.
491 This option only has meaning when used with the
497 Set or changes the user's login shell to
499 If the path to the shell program is omitted,
505 and fills it in as appropriate.
506 Note that unless you have a specific reason to do so, you should avoid
507 specifying the path - this will allow
509 to validate that the program exists and is executable.
510 Specifying a full path (or supplying a blank "" shell) avoids this check
511 and allows for such entries as
513 that should be set for accounts not intended for interactive login.
515 This option provides a special interface by which interactive scripts can
516 set an account password using
518 Because the command line and environment are fundamentally insecure mechanisms
519 by which programs can accept information,
521 will only allow setting of account and group passwords via a file descriptor
522 (usually a pipe between an interactive script and the program).
528 all possess mechanisms by which this can be done.
531 will prompt for the user's password if
535 as the file descriptor on which to read the password.
536 Note that this password will be read only once and is intended
537 for use by a script rather than for interactive use.
538 If you wish to have new password confirmation along the lines of
540 this must be implemented as part of an interactive script that calls
545 is given as the argument
547 then the password will be set to
549 rendering the account inaccessible via password-based login.
551 Read an encrypted password string from the specified file descriptor.
554 but the password should be supplied already encrypted in a form
555 suitable for writing directly to the password database.
558 It is possible to use
560 to create a new account that duplicates an existing user id.
561 While this is normally considered an error and will be rejected, the
563 option overrides the check for duplicates and allows the duplication of
565 This may be useful if you allow the same user to login under
566 different contexts (different group allocations, different home
567 directory, different shell) while providing basically the same
568 permissions for access to the user's files in each account.
572 command also has the ability to set new user and group defaults by using the
575 Instead of adding a new user,
577 writes a new set of defaults to its configuration file,
581 option, you must not use either
585 or an error will result.
588 changes the meaning of several command line switches in the
592 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
594 Set default values in
596 configuration file, or a different named configuration file if the
600 Set the root directory in which user home directories are created.
601 The default value for this is
603 but it may be set elsewhere as desired.
605 Set the default account expiration period in days.
610 argument is interpreted differently.
611 It must be numeric and represents the number of days after creation
612 that the account expires.
613 A value of 0 suppresses automatic calculation of the expiry date.
615 Set the default password expiration period in days.
617 Set the default group for new users.
618 If a blank group is specified using
620 then new users will be allocated their own private primary group
621 with the same name as their login name.
622 If a group is supplied, either its name or uid may be given as an argument.
623 .It Fl G Ar grouplist
624 Set the default groups in which new users are granted membership.
625 This is a separate set of groups from the primary group.
626 Avoid nominating the same group as both primary and extra groups.
627 In other words, these extra groups determine membership in groups
631 is a comma-separated list of group names or ids, and are always
634 by their symbolic names.
636 This option sets the default login class for new users.
641 from which prototype shell and other initialization files are copied when
643 creates a user's home directory.
646 for naming conventions of these files.
648 .Fl u Ar min , Ns Ar max ,
649 .Fl i Ar min , Ns Ar max
651 Set the minimum and maximum user and group ids allocated for new
652 accounts and groups created by
654 The default values for each is 1000 minimum and 32000 maximum.
658 are both numbers, where max must be greater than min,
659 and both must be between 0 and 32767.
661 user and group ids less than 100 are reserved for use by the system,
662 and numbers greater than 32000 may also be reserved for special purposes
663 .Pq used by some system daemons .
667 option selects the default method used to set passwords for newly created user
672 .Bl -tag -width random -offset indent -compact
674 disable login on newly created accounts
676 force the password to be the account name
678 force a blank password
680 generate a random password
687 methods are the most secure; in the former case,
689 generates a password and prints it to stdout,
690 which is suitable when users are issued passwords rather than being allowed
692 .Pq possibly poorly chosen
696 method requires that the superuser use
698 to render the account accessible with a password.
700 This sets the pathname of the database used by
702 if you are not sharing
704 .Pa /etc/master.passwd
707 You should only set this option for
714 command has three distinct options.
719 options have already been covered above.
720 The additional option is:
721 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
725 to remove the user's home directory and all of its contents.
728 utility errs on the side of caution when removing files from the system.
730 it will not do so if the uid of the account being removed is also used by
731 another account on the system, and the 'home' directory in the password file is
732 a valid path that commences with the character
734 Secondly, it will only remove files and directories that are actually owned by
735 the user, or symbolic links owned by anyone under the user's home directory.
736 Finally, after deleting all contents owned by the user only empty directories
738 If any additional cleanup work is required, this is left to the administrator.
741 Mail spool files and crontabs are always removed when an account is deleted as
742 these are unconditionally attached to the user name.
743 Jobs queued for processing by
745 are also removed if the user's uid is unique and not also used by another
746 account on the system.
750 command adds one additional option:
751 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
753 This option allows changing of an existing account name to
755 The new name must not already exist, and any attempt to duplicate an
756 existing account name will be rejected.
761 command allows viewing of an account in one of two formats.
762 By default, the format is identical to the format used in
763 .Pa /etc/master.passwd
764 with the password field replaced with a
770 outputs the account details in a more human readable form.
773 option is used, the account details are shown in v7 format.
776 option lists all users currently on file.
781 to print the details of an account even if it does not exist.
785 returns the next available user and group ids separated by a colon.
786 This is normally of interest only to interactive scripts or front-ends
794 options (explained at the start of the previous section) are available
795 with the group manipulation commands.
796 Other common options to all group-related commands are:
797 .Bl -tag -width "-m newmembers"
798 .It Oo Fl n Oc Ar name
802 Specify the group name.
810 Specify the group numeric id.
815 changes the numeric id of the named group.
817 As with the account name and id fields, you will usually only need
818 to supply one of these, as the group name implies the uid and vice
820 You will only need to use both when setting a specific group id
821 against a new group or when changing the uid of an existing group.
822 .It Fl M Ar memberlist
823 This option provides an alternative way to add existing users to a
824 new group (in groupadd) or replace an existing membership list (in
827 is a comma separated list of valid and existing user names or uids.
828 .It Fl m Ar newmembers
831 this option allows the
833 of existing users to a group without replacing the existing list of
835 Login names or user ids may be used, and duplicate users are
837 .It Fl d Ar oldmembers
840 this option allows the
842 of existing users from a group without replacing the existing list of
844 Login names or user ids may be used, and duplicate users are
851 option that allows allocation of an existing group id to a new group.
852 The default action is to reject an attempt to add a group,
853 and this option overrides the check for duplicate group ids.
854 There is rarely any need to duplicate a group id.
858 command adds one additional option:
859 .Bl -tag -width "-m newmembers"
861 This option allows changing of an existing group name to
863 The new name must not already exist,
864 and any attempt to duplicate an existing group
865 name will be rejected.
876 to specify the group id.
879 option does not apply to the
885 returns the next available group id on standard output.
890 supports a simple password locking mechanism for users; it works by
891 prepending the string
893 to the beginning of the password field in
895 to prevent successful authentication.
901 commands take a user name or uid of the account to lock or unlock,
908 options as described above are accepted by these commands.
910 For a summary of options available with each command, you can use
911 .Dl pw [command] help
914 lists all available options for the useradd operation.
918 utility allows 8-bit characters in the passwd GECOS field (user's full name,
919 office, work and home phone number subfields), but disallows them in
920 user login and group names.
921 Use 8-bit characters with caution, as connection to the Internet will
922 require that your mail transport program supports 8BITMIME, and will
923 convert headers containing 8-bit characters to 7-bit quoted-printable
927 Use of 8-bit characters in the GECOS field should be used in
928 conjunction with the user's default locale and character set
929 and should not be implemented without their use.
930 Using 8-bit characters may also affect other
931 programs that transmit the contents of the GECOS field over the
934 and a small number of TCP/IP clients, such as IRC, where full names
935 specified in the passwd file may be used by default.
939 utility writes a log to the
941 file when actions such as user or group additions or deletions occur.
942 The location of this logfile can be changed in
945 .Bl -tag -width /etc/master.passwd.new -compact
946 .It Pa /etc/master.passwd
949 A Version 7 format password file
950 .It Pa /etc/login.conf
951 The user capabilities database
955 Pw default options file
956 .It Pa /var/log/userlog
957 User/group modification logfile
962 utility returns EXIT_SUCCESS on successful operation, otherwise
965 following exit codes defined by
972 Command line syntax errors (invalid keyword, unknown option).
977 Attempting to run one of the update modes as non-root.
982 Memory allocation error.
984 Read error from password file descriptor.
989 Bad or invalid data provided or missing on the command line or
990 via the password file descriptor.
992 Attempted to remove, rename root account or change its uid.
997 Skeleton directory is invalid or does not exist.
999 Base home directory is invalid or does not exist.
1001 Invalid or non-existent shell specified.
1004 .Bl -bullet -compact
1006 User, user id, group or group id specified does not exist.
1008 User or group recorded, added, or modified unexpectedly disappeared.
1011 .Bl -bullet -compact
1013 No more group or user ids available within specified range.
1016 .Bl -bullet -compact
1018 Unable to rewrite configuration file.
1020 Error updating group or user database files.
1022 Update error for passwd or group database files.
1025 .Bl -bullet -compact
1027 No base home directory configured.
1043 utility was written to mimic many of the options used in the SYSV
1045 support suite, but is modified for passwd and group fields specific to
1048 operating system, and combines all of the major elements
1049 into a single command.
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