adduser/adduser.8

   1 .\" Copyright (c) 1995-1996 Wolfram Schneider <wosch@FreeBSD.org>. Berlin.
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  25 .\" $FreeBSD$
  26 .\"
  27 .Dd January 9, 1995
  28 .Dt ADDUSER 8
  29 .Os
  30 .Sh NAME
  31 .Nm adduser
  32 .Nd command for adding new users
  33 .Sh SYNOPSIS
  34 .Nm
  35 .Bk -words
  36 .Op Fl check_only
  37 .Op Fl class Ar login_class
  38 .Op Fl config_create
  39 .Op Fl dotdir Ar dotdir
  40 .Op Fl group Ar login_group
  41 .Op Fl h | help
  42 .Op Fl home Ar home
  43 .Op Fl message Ar message_file
  44 .Op Fl noconfig
  45 .Op Fl shell Ar shell
  46 .Op Fl s | silent | q | quiet
  47 .Op Fl uid Ar uid_start
  48 .Op Fl v | verbose
  49 .Ek
  50 .Sh DESCRIPTION
  51 The
  52 .Nm
  53 utility is a simple program for adding new users.
  54 It checks the passwd, group and shell databases.
  55 It creates passwd/group entries,
  56 .Ev HOME
  57 directory, dotfiles and sends the new user a welcome message.
  58 .Sh RESTRICTIONS
  59 .Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
  60 .It Sy username
  61 Login name.
  62 May contain only lowercase characters or digits.
  63 Maximum length
  64 is 16 characters (see
  65 .Xr setlogin 2
  66 BUGS section).
  67 The reasons for this limit are "Historical".
  68 Given that people have traditionally wanted to break this
  69 limit for aesthetic reasons, it's never been of great importance to break
  70 such a basic fundamental parameter in UNIX.
  71 You can change
  72 .Dv UT_NAMESIZE
  73 in
  74 .Pa /usr/include/utmp.h
  75 and recompile the
  76 world; people have done this and it works, but you will have problems
  77 with any precompiled programs, or source that assumes the 8-character
  78 name limit and NIS.
  79 The NIS protocol mandates an 8-character username.
  80 If you need a longer login name for e-mail addresses,
  81 you can define an alias in
  82 .Pa /etc/mail/aliases .
  83 .It Sy fullname
  84 Firstname and surname.
  85 The
  86 .Ql Pa \&:
  87 character is not allowed.
  88 .It Sy shell
  89 Only valid shells from the shell database or sliplogin and pppd
  90 .It Sy uid
  91 Automatically generated or your choice, must be less than 32000.
  92 .It Sy gid/login group
  93 Your choice or automatically generated.
  94 .It Sy password
  95 If not empty, password is encoded with
  96 .Xr crypt 3 .
  97 .El
  98 .Sh UNIQUE GROUPS
  99 Perhaps you're missing what
 100 .Em can
 101 be done with this scheme that falls apart
 102 with most other schemes.
 103 With each user in his/her own group the user can
 104 safely run with a umask of 002 instead of the usual 022
 105 and create files in their home directory
 106 without worrying about others being able to change them.
 107 .Pp
 108 For a shared area you create a separate uid/gid (like cvs or ncvs on freefall),
 109 you place each person that should be able to access this area into that new
 110 group.
 111 .Pp
 112 This model of uid/gid administration allows far greater flexibility than lumping
 113 users into groups and having to muck with the umask when working in a shared
 114 area.
 115 .Pp
 116 I have been using this model for almost 10 years and found that it works
 117 for most situations, and has never gotten in the way.
 118 (Rod Grimes)
 119 .Sh CONFIGURATION
 120 .Bl -enum
 121 .It
 122 Read internal variables.
 123 .It
 124 Read configuration file (/etc/adduser.conf).
 125 .It
 126 Parse command line options.
 127 .El
 128 .Sh OPTIONS
 129 .Bl -tag -width Ds
 130 .It Fl check_only
 131 Check /etc/passwd, /etc/group, /etc/shells and exit.
 132 .It Fl class Ar login_class
 133 Set default login class.
 134 .It Fl config_create
 135 Create new configuration and message file and exit.
 136 .It Fl dotdir Ar directory
 137 Copy files from
 138 .Ar directory
 139 into the
 140 .Ev HOME
 141 directory of new users,
 142 .Ql Pa dot.foo
 143 will be renamed to
 144 .Ql Pa .foo .
 145 Don't copy files if
 146 .Ar directory
 147 specified is equal to
 148 .Ar no .
 149 For security make all files writable and readable for owner,
 150 don't allow group or world to write files and allow only owner
 151 to read/execute/write
 152 .Pa .rhost ,
 153 .Pa .Xauthority ,
 154 .Pa .kermrc ,
 155 .Pa .netrc ,
 156 .Pa Mail ,
 157 .Pa prv ,
 158 .Pa iscreen ,
 159 .Pa term .
 160 .It Fl group Ar login_group
 161 Login group.
 162 .Ar USER
 163 means that the username is to be used as login group.
 164 .It Fl help , h , \&?
 165 Print a summary of options and exit.
 166 .It Fl home Ar partition
 167 Default home partition where all users located.
 168 .It Fl message Ar file
 169 Send new users a welcome message from
 170 .Ar file .
 171 Specifying a value of
 172 .Ar no
 173 for
 174 .Ar file
 175 causes no message to be sent to new users.
 176 .It Fl noconfig
 177 Do not read the default configuration file.
 178 .It Fl shell Ar shell
 179 Default shell for new users.
 180 .It Fl silent , s , quiet , q
 181 Few warnings, questions, bug reports.
 182 .It Fl uid Ar uid
 183 Use uid's from
 184 .Ar uid
 185 on up.
 186 .It Fl verbose , v
 187 Many warnings, questions.
 188 Recommended for novice users.
 189 .El
 190 .Sh FORMATS
 191 .Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
 192 .Ql Pa #
 193 is a comment.
 194 .It Sy configuration file
 195 The
 196 .Nm
 197 utility reads and writes this file.
 198 See
 199 .Pa /etc/adduser.conf
 200 for more details.
 201 .It Sy message file
 202 Eval variables in this file.
 203 See
 204 .Pa /etc/adduser.message
 205 for more
 206 details.
 207 .El
 208 .Sh FILES
 209 .Bl -tag -width /etc/master.passwdxx -compact
 210 .It Pa /etc/master.passwd
 211 user database
 212 .It Pa /etc/group
 213 group database
 214 .It Pa /etc/shells
 215 shell database
 216 .It Pa /etc/login.conf
 217 login classes database
 218 .It Pa /etc/adduser.conf
 219 configuration file for adduser
 220 .It Pa /etc/adduser.message
 221 message file for adduser
 222 .It Pa /usr/share/skel
 223 skeletal login directory
 224 .It Pa /var/log/adduser
 225 logfile for adduser
 226 .El
 227 .Sh SEE ALSO
 228 .Xr chpass 1 ,
 229 .Xr finger 1 ,
 230 .Xr passwd 1 ,
 231 .Xr setlogin 2 ,
 232 .Xr aliases 5 ,
 233 .Xr group 5 ,
 234 .Xr login.conf 5 ,
 235 .Xr passwd 5 ,
 236 .Xr shells 5 ,
 237 .Xr pw 8 ,
 238 .Xr pwd_mkdb 8 ,
 239 .Xr rmuser 8 ,
 240 .Xr vipw 8 ,
 241 .Xr yp 8
 242 .\" .Sh BUGS
 243 .Sh HISTORY
 244 The
 245 .Nm
 246 utility appeared in
 247 .Fx 2.1 .