adduser/adduser.8

   1 .\" Copyright (c) 1995-1996 Wolfram Schneider <wosch@FreeBSD.org>. Berlin.
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  25 .\" $FreeBSD$
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  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.  It checks
  54 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.  With each user in his/her own group the user can
 103 safely run with a umask of 002 and have files created in their home directory
 104 and not worry about others being able to read them.
 105 .Pp
 106 For a shared area you create a separate uid/gid (like cvs or ncvs on freefall),
 107 you place each person that should be able to access this area into that new
 108 group.
 109 .Pp
 110 This model of uid/gid administration allows far greater flexibility than lumping
 111 users into groups and having to muck with the umask when working in a shared
 112 area.
 113 .Pp
 114 I have been using this model for almost 10 years and found that it works
 115 for most situations, and has never gotten in the way.  (Rod Grimes)
 116 .Sh CONFIGURATION
 117 .Bl -enum
 118 .It
 119 Read internal variables.
 120 .It
 121 Read configuration file (/etc/adduser.conf).
 122 .It
 123 Parse command line options.
 124 .El
 125 .Sh OPTIONS
 126 .Bl -tag -width Ds
 127 .It Fl check_only
 128 Check /etc/passwd, /etc/group, /etc/shells and exit.
 129 .It Fl class Ar login_class
 130 Set default login class.
 131 .It Fl config_create
 132 Create new configuration and message file and exit.
 133 .It Fl dotdir Ar directory
 134 Copy files from
 135 .Ar directory
 136 into the
 137 .Ev HOME
 138 directory of new users,
 139 .Ql Pa dot.foo
 140 will be renamed to
 141 .Ql Pa .foo .
 142 Don't copy files if
 143 .Ar directory
 144 specified is equal to
 145 .Ar no .
 146 For security make all files writable and readable for owner,
 147 don't allow group or world to write files and allow only owner
 148 to read/execute/write
 149 .Pa .rhost ,
 150 .Pa .Xauthority ,
 151 .Pa .kermrc ,
 152 .Pa .netrc ,
 153 .Pa Mail ,
 154 .Pa prv ,
 155 .Pa iscreen ,
 156 .Pa term .
 157 .It Fl group Ar login_group
 158 Login group.
 159 .Ar USER
 160 means that the username is to be used as login group.
 161 .It Fl help , h , \&?
 162 Print a summary of options and exit.
 163 .It Fl home Ar partition
 164 Default home partition where all users located.
 165 .It Fl message Ar file
 166 Send new users a welcome message from
 167 .Ar file .
 168 Specifying a value of
 169 .Ar no
 170 for
 171 .Ar file
 172 causes no message to be sent to new users.
 173 .It Fl noconfig
 174 Do not read the default configuration file.
 175 .It Fl shell Ar shell
 176 Default shell for new users.
 177 .It Fl silent , s , quiet , q
 178 Few warnings, questions, bug reports.
 179 .It Fl uid Ar uid
 180 Use uid's from
 181 .Ar uid
 182 on up.
 183 .It Fl verbose , v
 184 Many warnings, questions.
 185 Recommended for novice users.
 186 .El
 187 .Sh FORMATS
 188 .Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
 189 .Ql Pa #
 190 is a comment.
 191 .It Sy configuration file
 192 The
 193 .Nm
 194 utility reads and writes this file.
 195 See
 196 .Pa /etc/adduser.conf
 197 for more details.
 198 .It Sy message file
 199 Eval variables in this file.
 200 See
 201 .Pa /etc/adduser.message
 202 for more
 203 details.
 204 .El
 205 .Sh FILES
 206 .Bl -tag -width /etc/master.passwdxx -compact
 207 .It Pa /etc/master.passwd
 208 user database
 209 .It Pa /etc/group
 210 group database
 211 .It Pa /etc/shells
 212 shell database
 213 .It Pa /etc/login.conf
 214 login classes database
 215 .It Pa /etc/adduser.conf
 216 configuration file for adduser
 217 .It Pa /etc/adduser.message
 218 message file for adduser
 219 .It Pa /usr/share/skel
 220 skeletal login directory
 221 .It Pa /var/log/adduser
 222 logfile for adduser
 223 .El
 224 .Sh SEE ALSO
 225 .Xr chpass 1 ,
 226 .Xr finger 1 ,
 227 .Xr passwd 1 ,
 228 .Xr setlogin 2 ,
 229 .Xr aliases 5 ,
 230 .Xr group 5 ,
 231 .Xr login.conf 5 ,
 232 .Xr passwd 5 ,
 233 .Xr shells 5 ,
 234 .Xr pw 8 ,
 235 .Xr pwd_mkdb 8 ,
 236 .Xr rmuser 8 ,
 237 .Xr vipw 8 ,
 238 .Xr yp 8
 239 .\" .Sh BUGS
 240 .Sh HISTORY
 241 The
 242 .Nm
 243 utility appeared in
 244 .Fx 2.1 .