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.  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.
 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.  (Rod Grimes)
 118 .Sh CONFIGURATION
 119 .Bl -enum
 120 .It
 121 Read internal variables.
 122 .It
 123 Read configuration file (/etc/adduser.conf).
 124 .It
 125 Parse command line options.
 126 .El
 127 .Sh OPTIONS
 128 .Bl -tag -width Ds
 129 .It Fl check_only
 130 Check /etc/passwd, /etc/group, /etc/shells and exit.
 131 .It Fl class Ar login_class
 132 Set default login class.
 133 .It Fl config_create
 134 Create new configuration and message file and exit.
 135 .It Fl dotdir Ar directory
 136 Copy files from
 137 .Ar directory
 138 into the
 139 .Ev HOME
 140 directory of new users,
 141 .Ql Pa dot.foo
 142 will be renamed to
 143 .Ql Pa .foo .
 144 Don't copy files if
 145 .Ar directory
 146 specified is equal to
 147 .Ar no .
 148 For security make all files writable and readable for owner,
 149 don't allow group or world to write files and allow only owner
 150 to read/execute/write
 151 .Pa .rhost ,
 152 .Pa .Xauthority ,
 153 .Pa .kermrc ,
 154 .Pa .netrc ,
 155 .Pa Mail ,
 156 .Pa prv ,
 157 .Pa iscreen ,
 158 .Pa term .
 159 .It Fl group Ar login_group
 160 Login group.
 161 .Ar USER
 162 means that the username is to be used as login group.
 163 .It Fl help , h , \&?
 164 Print a summary of options and exit.
 165 .It Fl home Ar partition
 166 Default home partition where all users located.
 167 .It Fl message Ar file
 168 Send new users a welcome message from
 169 .Ar file .
 170 Specifying a value of
 171 .Ar no
 172 for
 173 .Ar file
 174 causes no message to be sent to new users.
 175 .It Fl noconfig
 176 Do not read the default configuration file.
 177 .It Fl shell Ar shell
 178 Default shell for new users.
 179 .It Fl silent , s , quiet , q
 180 Few warnings, questions, bug reports.
 181 .It Fl uid Ar uid
 182 Use uid's from
 183 .Ar uid
 184 on up.
 185 .It Fl verbose , v
 186 Many warnings, questions.
 187 Recommended for novice users.
 188 .El
 189 .Sh FORMATS
 190 .Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
 191 .Ql Pa #
 192 is a comment.
 193 .It Sy configuration file
 194 The
 195 .Nm
 196 utility reads and writes this file.
 197 See
 198 .Pa /etc/adduser.conf
 199 for more details.
 200 .It Sy message file
 201 Eval variables in this file.
 202 See
 203 .Pa /etc/adduser.message
 204 for more
 205 details.
 206 .El
 207 .Sh FILES
 208 .Bl -tag -width /etc/master.passwdxx -compact
 209 .It Pa /etc/master.passwd
 210 user database
 211 .It Pa /etc/group
 212 group database
 213 .It Pa /etc/shells
 214 shell database
 215 .It Pa /etc/login.conf
 216 login classes database
 217 .It Pa /etc/adduser.conf
 218 configuration file for adduser
 219 .It Pa /etc/adduser.message
 220 message file for adduser
 221 .It Pa /usr/share/skel
 222 skeletal login directory
 223 .It Pa /var/log/adduser
 224 logfile for adduser
 225 .El
 226 .Sh SEE ALSO
 227 .Xr chpass 1 ,
 228 .Xr finger 1 ,
 229 .Xr passwd 1 ,
 230 .Xr setlogin 2 ,
 231 .Xr aliases 5 ,
 232 .Xr group 5 ,
 233 .Xr login.conf 5 ,
 234 .Xr passwd 5 ,
 235 .Xr shells 5 ,
 236 .Xr pw 8 ,
 237 .Xr pwd_mkdb 8 ,
 238 .Xr rmuser 8 ,
 239 .Xr vipw 8 ,
 240 .Xr yp 8
 241 .\" .Sh BUGS
 242 .Sh HISTORY
 243 The
 244 .Nm
 245 utility appeared in
 246 .Fx 2.1 .