1 .\" Copyright (c) 1995-1996 Wolfram Schneider <wosch@FreeBSD.org>. Berlin.
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3 .\" Copyright (c) 2002-2004 Michael Telahun Makonnen <mtm@FreeBSD.org>
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34 .Nd command for adding new users
39 .Op Fl L Ar login_class
42 .Op Fl g Ar login_group
44 .Op Fl m Ar message_file
51 utility is a shell script, implemented around the
53 command, for adding new users.
54 It creates passwd/group entries, a home directory,
55 copies dotfiles and sends the new user a welcome message.
56 It supports two modes of operation.
57 It may be used interactively
58 at the command line to add one user at a time, or it may be directed
59 to get the list of new users from a file and operate in batch mode
60 without requiring any user interaction.
62 .Bl -tag -width indent
65 The user name is restricted to whatever
68 Generally this means it
69 may contain only lowercase characters or digits but cannot begin with the
74 The reasons for this limit are historical.
75 Given that people have traditionally wanted to break this
76 limit for aesthetic reasons, it has never been of great importance to break
77 such a basic fundamental parameter in
84 world; people have done this and it works, but you will have problems
85 with any precompiled programs, or source that assumes the 8-character
86 name limit, such as NIS.
87 The NIS protocol mandates an 8-character username.
88 If you need a longer login name for e-mail addresses,
89 you can define an alias in
90 .Pa /etc/mail/aliases .
92 This is typically known as the gecos field and usually contains
94 Additionally, it may contain a comma separated
95 list of values such as office number and work and home phones.
97 name contains an ampersand it will be replaced by the capitalized
98 login name when displayed by other programs.
101 character is not allowed.
105 argument is supplied only valid shells from the shell database
109 either the base name or the full path of the shell may be supplied.
111 Automatically generated or your choice.
112 It must be less than 32000.
113 .It "GID/login group"
114 Automatically generated or your choice.
115 It must be less than 32000.
117 You may choose an empty password, disable the password, use a
118 randomly generated password or specify your own plaintext password,
119 which will be encrypted before being stored in the user database.
122 Perhaps you are missing what
124 be done with this scheme that falls apart
125 with most other schemes.
126 With each user in their own group,
127 they can safely run with a umask of 002 instead of the usual 022
128 and create files in their home directory
129 without worrying about others being able to change them.
131 For a shared area you create a separate UID/GID (like cvs or ncvs on freefall),
132 you place each person that should be able to access this area into that new
135 This model of UID/GID administration allows far greater flexibility than lumping
136 users into groups and having to muck with the umask when working in a shared
139 I have been using this model for almost 10 years and found that it works
140 for most situations, and has never gotten in the way.
145 utility reads its configuration information from
146 .Pa /etc/adduser.conf .
147 If this file does not exist, it will use predefined defaults.
148 While this file may be edited by hand,
149 the safer option is to use the
151 command line argument.
154 will start interactive input, save the answers to its prompts in
155 .Pa /etc/adduser.conf ,
156 and promptly exit without modifying the user
158 Options specified on the command line will take precedence over
159 any values saved in this file.
161 .Bl -tag -width indent
163 Create new configuration file and exit.
164 This option is mutually exclusive with the
167 .It Fl d Ar partition
169 Default partition, under which all user directories
173 partition is considered special.
176 script will not create and populate a home directory by that name.
178 by default it attempts to create a home directory.
180 Do not attempt to create the home directory.
183 This option will lock the account by prepending the string
185 to the password field.
186 The account may be unlocked
187 by the super-user with the
191 .D1 Nm pw Cm unlock Op Ar name | uid
193 Get the list of accounts to create from
199 then get the list from standard input.
200 If this option is specified,
202 will operate in batch mode and will not seek any user input.
203 If an error is encountered while processing an account, it will write a
204 message to standard error and move to the next account.
206 of the input file is described below.
207 .It Fl g Ar login_group
209 if no login group is specified,
210 it is assumed to be the same as the username.
215 Space-separated list of additional groups.
216 This option allows the user to specify additional groups to add users to.
217 The user is a member of these groups in addition to their login group.
219 Print a summary of options and exit.
220 .It Fl k Ar directory
224 directory of new users;
228 .It Fl L Ar login_class
229 Set default login class.
231 Send new users a welcome message from
233 Specifying a value of
237 causes no message to be sent to new users.
238 Please note that the message
239 file can reference the internal variables of the
243 Do not read the default configuration file.
245 Minimal user feedback.
246 In particular, the random password will not be echoed to
249 Default shell for new users.
252 argument may be the base name of the shell or the full path.
255 argument is supplied the shell must exist in
257 or be the special shell
259 to be considered a valid shell.
261 The existence or validity of the specified shell will not be checked.
270 utility allows the user to specify what type of password to create.
273 argument may have one of the following values:
274 .Bl -tag -width ".Cm random"
276 Disable the password.
277 Instead of an encrypted string, the password field will contain a single
280 The user may not log in until the super-user
281 manually enables the password.
283 Use an empty string as the password.
285 Use a user-supplied string as the password.
287 the user will be prompted for the password.
289 last (10th) field in the line is assumed to be the password.
291 Generate a random string and use it as a password.
292 The password will be echoed to standard output.
293 In addition, it will be available for inclusion in the message file in the
301 option is used, the account information must be stored in a specific
303 All empty lines or lines beginning with a
306 All other lines must contain ten colon
308 separated fields as described below.
309 Command line options do not take precedence
310 over values in the fields.
311 Only the password field may contain a
313 character as part of the string.
316 .D1 Ar name : uid : gid : class : change : expire : gecos : home_dir : shell : password
318 .Bl -tag -width ".Ar password"
321 This field may not be empty.
323 Numeric login user ID.
324 If this field is left empty, it will be automatically generated.
326 Numeric primary group ID.
327 If this field is left empty, a group with the
328 same name as the user name will be created and its GID will be used
332 This field may be left empty.
335 This field denotes the password change date for the account.
336 The format of this field is the same as the format of the
341 .Ar dd Ns - Ns Ar mmm Ns - Ns Ar yy Ns Op Ar yy ,
346 is for the month in numeric or alphabetical format:
352 is the four or two digit year.
353 To denote a time relative to the current date the format is:
354 .No + Ns Ar n Ns Op Ar mhdwoy ,
357 denotes a number, followed by the minutes, hours, days, weeks,
358 months or years after which the password must be changed.
359 This field may be left empty to turn it off.
362 This field denotes the expiry date of the account.
363 The account may not be used after the specified date.
364 The format of this field is the same as that for password ageing.
365 This field may be left empty to turn it off.
367 Full name and other extra information about the user.
370 If this field is left empty, it will be automatically
371 created by appending the username to the home partition.
374 home directory is considered special and
375 is understood to mean that no home directory is to be
376 created for the user.
379 This field should contain either the base name or
380 the full path to a valid login shell.
383 This field should contain a plaintext string, which will
384 be encrypted before being placed in the user database.
385 If the password type is
387 and this field is empty, it is assumed the account will have an empty password.
388 If the password type is
392 empty, its contents will be used
394 This field will be ignored if the
396 option is used with a
401 Be careful not to terminate this field with a closing
403 because it will be treated as part of the password.
406 .Bl -tag -width ".Pa /etc/adduser.message" -compact
407 .It Pa /etc/master.passwd
413 .It Pa /etc/login.conf
414 login classes database
415 .It Pa /etc/adduser.conf
416 configuration file for
418 .It Pa /etc/adduser.message
421 .It Pa /usr/share/skel
422 skeletal login directory
423 .It Pa /var/log/adduser
449 This manual page and the original script, in Perl, was written by
450 .An Wolfram Schneider Aq wosch@FreeBSD.org .
451 The replacement script, written as a Bourne
452 shell script with some enhancements, and the man page modification that
453 came with it were done by
454 .An Mike Makonnen Aq mtm@identd.net .
458 to correctly expand variables such as
462 in the message sent to new users, it must let the shell evaluate
463 each line of the message file.
464 This means that shell commands can also be embedded in the message file.
467 utility attempts to mitigate the possibility of an attacker using this
468 feature by refusing to evaluate the file if it is not owned and writable
469 only by the root user.
470 In addition, shell special characters and operators will have to be
471 escaped when used in the message file.
473 Also, password ageing and account expiry times are currently settable
474 only in batch mode or when specified in
475 .Pa /etc/adduser.conf .
476 The user should be able to set them in interactive mode as well.