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32 .Nd create, remove, modify & display system users and groups
70 .Op Fl u Ar min , Ns Ar max
71 .Op Fl i Ar min , Ns Ar max
154 .Op Fl m Ar newmembers
187 is a command-line based editor for the system
191 files, allowing the superuser an easy to use and standardized way of adding,
192 modifying and removing users and groups.
195 only operates on the local user and group files. NIS users and groups must be
196 maintained on the NIS server.
202 and the secure and insecure
203 password database files, and must be run as root.
205 The first one or two keywords provided to
207 on the command line provide the context for the remainder of the arguments.
226 all mean the same thing.)
227 This flexibility is useful for interactive scripts calling
229 for user and group database manipulation.
230 Following these keywords, you may optionally specify the user or group name or numeric
231 id as an alternative to using the
237 The following flags are common to most or all modes of operation;
239 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
241 This flag sets an alternate location for the password, group and configuration files,
242 and may be used to maintain a user/group database in an alternate location.
243 If this switch is specified, the system
245 will not be sourced for default configuration data, but the file pw.conf in the
246 specified directory will be used instead (or none, if it does not exist).
249 flag may be used to override this behaviour.
250 As an exception to the general rule where options must follow the operation
253 flag may be used on the command line before the operation keyword.
259 to obtain policy information on how new user accounts and groups are to be created.
262 option specifies a different configuration file.
263 While most of the contents of the configuration file may be overridden via
264 command-line options, it may be more convenient to keep standard information in a
267 Use of this option causes
269 to suppress error messages, which may be useful in interactive environments where it
270 is preferable to interpret status codes returned by
272 rather than messing up a carefully formatted display.
274 This option is available in
278 operations, and tells
280 to output the result of the operation without updating the user or group
284 option to switch between standard passwd and readable formats.
286 Using this option with any of the update modes causes
290 after changing to the directory
292 This is intended to allow automatic updating of NIS database files.
293 If separate passwd and group files are being used by NIS, then use the
295 option to specify the location of the NIS passwd database so that
297 will concurrently update it with the system password
301 The following options apply to the
307 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
309 Specify the user/account name.
311 Specify the user/account numeric id.
313 Usually, you only need to provide one or the other of these options, as the account
314 name will imply the uid, or vice versa.
315 However, there are times when you need to provide both.
316 For example, when changing the uid of an existing user with
318 or overriding the default uid when creating a new account.
321 to automatically allocate the uid to a new user with
328 You may also provide either the account or userid immediately after the
334 keywords on the command line without using the
341 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
343 This field sets the contents of the passwd GECOS field, which normally contains up
344 to four comma-separated fields containing the user's full name, office or location,
345 and work and home phone numbers.
346 These sub-fields are used by convention only, however, and are optional.
347 If this field is to contain spaces, you need to quote the comment itself with double
350 Avoid using commas in this field as these are used as sub-field separators, and the
353 character also cannot be used as this is the field separator for the passwd
356 This option sets the account's home directory.
357 Normally, you will only use this if the home directory is to be different from the
358 default determined from
362 with the account name as a subdirectory.
364 Set the account's expiration date.
365 Format of the date is either a UNIX time in decimal, or a date in
367 format, where dd is the day, mmm is the month, either in numeric or alphabetic format
368 ('Jan', 'Feb', etc) and year is either a two or four digit year.
369 This option also accepts a relative date in the form
373 is a decimal, octal (leading 0) or hexadecimal (leading 0x) digit followed by the
374 number of Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, Months or Years from the current date at
375 which the expiration date is to be set.
377 Set the account's password expiration date.
378 This field is similar to the account expiration date option, except that it
379 applies to forced password changes.
380 This is set in the same manner as the
384 Set the account's primary group to the given group.
386 may be defined by either its name or group number.
387 .It Fl G Ar grouplist
388 Sets additional group memberships for an account.
390 is a comma-separated list of group names or group numbers.
391 The user's name is added to the group lists in
394 removed from any groups not specified in
396 Note: a user should not be added to their primary group with
398 Also, group membership changes do not take effect for current user login
399 sessions, requiring the user to reconnect to be affected by the changes.
401 This option sets the login class for the user being created.
406 for more information on user login classes.
408 This option instructs
410 to attempt to create the user's home directory.
411 While primarily useful when adding a new account with
413 this may also be of use when moving an existing user's home directory elsewhere on
415 The new home directory is populated with the contents of the
417 directory, which typically contains a set of shell configuration files that the
418 user may personalize to taste.
421 is used on an account with
423 existing configuration files in the user's home directory are
425 overwritten from the skeleton files.
427 When a user's home directory is created, it will by default be a subdirectory of the
429 directory as specified by the
431 option (see below), bearing the name of the new account.
432 This can be overridden by the
434 option on the command line, if desired.
438 directory, from which basic startup and configuration files are copied when
439 the user's home directory is created.
440 This option only has meaning when used with the
446 Set or changes the user's login shell to
448 If the path to the shell program is omitted,
454 and fills it in as appropriate.
455 Note that unless you have a specific reason to do so, you should avoid
456 specifying the path - this will allow
458 to validate that the program exists and is executable.
459 Specifying a full path (or supplying a blank "" shell) avoids this check
460 and allows for such entries as
462 that should be set for accounts not intended for interactive login.
464 This option provides a special interface by which interactive scripts can
465 set an account password using
467 Because the command line and environment are fundamentally insecure mechanisms
468 by which programs can accept information,
470 will only allow setting of account and group passwords via a file descriptor
471 (usually a pipe between an interactive script and the program).
477 all possess mechanisms by which this can be done.
480 will prompt for the user's password if
484 as the file descriptor on which to read the password.
485 Note that this password will be read only once and is intended
486 for use by a script rather than for interactive use.
487 If you wish to have new password confirmation along the lines of
489 this must be implemented as part of an interactive script that calls
494 is given as the argument
496 then the password will be set to
498 rendering the account inaccessible via password-based login.
501 It is possible to use
503 to create a new account that duplicates an existing user id.
504 While this is normally considered an error and will be rejected, the
506 option overrides the check for duplicates and allows the duplication of
508 This may be useful if you allow the same user to login under
509 different contexts (different group allocations, different home
510 directory, different shell) while providing basically the same
511 permissions for access to the user's files in each account.
515 command also has the ability to set new user and group defaults by using the
518 Instead of adding a new user,
520 writes a new set of defaults to its configuration file,
524 option, you must not use either
528 or an error will result.
531 changes the meaning of several command line switches in the
535 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
537 Set default values in
539 configuration file, or a different named configuration file if the
543 Set the root directory in which user home directories are created.
544 The default value for this is
546 but it may be set elsewhere as desired.
548 Set the default account expiration period in days.
551 the argument must be numeric, which specifies the number of days after creation when
552 the account is to expire.
553 A value of 0 suppresses automatic calculation of the expiry date.
555 Set the default password expiration period in days.
557 Set the default group for new users.
558 If a blank group is specified using
560 then new users will be allocated their own private primary group
561 with the same name as their login name.
562 If a group is supplied, either its name or uid may be given as an argument.
563 .It Fl G Ar grouplist
564 Set the default groups in which new users are granted membership.
565 This is a separate set of groups from the primary group, and you should avoid
566 nominating the same group as both primary and extra groups.
567 In other words, these extra groups determine membership in groups
571 is a comma-separated list of group names or ids, and are always
574 by their symbolic names.
576 This option sets the default login class for new users.
580 directory, from which prototype shell and other initialization files are copied when
582 creates a user's home directory.
584 .Fl u Ar min , Ns Ar max ,
585 .Fl i Ar min , Ns Ar max
587 These options set the minimum and maximum user and group ids allocated for new accounts
588 and groups created by
590 The default values for each is 1000 minimum and 32000 maximum.
594 are both numbers, where max must be greater than min, and both must be between 0
596 In general, user and group ids less than 100 are reserved for use by the system,
597 and numbers greater than 32000 may also be reserved for special purposes (used by
598 some system daemons).
602 option sets the default method used to set passwords for newly created user accounts.
606 .Bl -tag -width random -offset indent -compact
608 disable login on newly created accounts
610 force the password to be the account name
612 force a blank password
614 generate a random password
621 methods are the most secure; in the former case,
623 generates a password and prints it to stdout, which is suitable where you issue
624 users with passwords to access their accounts rather than having the user nominate
625 their own (possibly poorly chosen) password.
628 method requires that the superuser use
630 to render the account accessible with a password.
632 This sets the pathname of the database used by NIS if you are not sharing
634 .Pa /etc/master.passwd
636 You should only set this option for NIS servers.
641 command has only three valid options.
646 options have already been covered above.
647 The additional option is:
648 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
652 to remove the user's home directory and all of its contents.
654 errs on the side of caution when removing files from the system.
655 Firstly, it will not do so if the uid of the account being removed is also used by
656 another account on the system, and the 'home' directory in the password file is
657 a valid path that commences with the character
659 Secondly, it will only remove files and directories that are actually owned by
660 the user, or symbolic links owned by anyone under the user's home directory.
661 Finally, after deleting all contents owned by the user only empty directories
663 If any additional cleanup work is required, this is left to the administrator.
666 Mail spool files and crontabs are always removed when an account is deleted as these
667 are unconditionally attached to the user name.
668 Jobs queued for processing by
670 are also removed if the user's uid is unique and not also used by another account on the
675 command allows viewing of an account in one of two formats.
676 By default, the format is identical to the format used in
677 .Pa /etc/master.passwd
678 with the password field replaced with a
684 outputs the account details in a more human readable form.
687 option is used, the account details are shown in v7 format.
690 option lists all users currently on file.
694 returns the next available user and group ids separated by a colon.
695 This is normally of interest only to interactive scripts or front-ends
703 options (explained at the start of the previous section) are available
704 with the group manipulation commands.
705 Other common options to all group-related commands are:
706 .Bl -tag -width "-m newmembers"
708 Specify the group name.
710 Specify the group numeric id.
712 As with the account name and id fields, you will usually only need
713 to supply one of these, as the group name implies the uid and vice
715 You will only need to use both when setting a specific group id
716 against a new group or when changing the uid of an existing group.
717 .It Fl M Ar memberlist
718 This option provides an alternative way to add existing users to a
719 new group (in groupadd) or replace an existing membership list (in
722 is a comma separated list of valid and existing user names or uids.
723 .It Fl m Ar newmembers
726 this option allows the
728 of existing users to a group without replacing the existing list of
730 Login names or user ids may be used, and duplicate users are
737 option that allows allocation of an existing group id to a new group.
738 The default action is to reject an attempt to add a group, and this option overrides
739 the check for duplicate group ids.
740 There is rarely any need to duplicate a group id.
744 command adds one additional option:
746 .Bl -tag -width "-m newmembers"
748 This option allows changing of an existing group name to
750 The new name must not already exist, and any attempt to duplicate an existing group
751 name will be rejected.
762 to specify the group id.
765 option does not apply to the
771 returns the next available group id on standard output.
774 supports a simple password locking mechanism for users; it works by
775 prepending the string
777 to the beginning of the password field in
779 to prevent successful authentication.
785 commands take a user name or uid of the account to lock or unlock,
791 options as described above are accepted by these commands.
794 returns EXIT_SUCCESS on successful operation, otherwise
797 following exit codes defined by
804 Command line syntax errors (invalid keyword, unknown option).
809 Attempting to run one of the update modes as non-root.
814 Memory allocation error.
816 Read error from password file descriptor.
821 Bad or invalid data provided or missing on the command line or
822 via the password file descriptor.
824 Attempted to remove, rename root account or change its uid.
829 Skeleton directory is invalid or does not exist.
831 Base home directory is invalid or does not exist.
833 Invalid or non-existent shell specified.
838 User, user id, group or group id specified does not exist.
840 User or group recorded, added, or modified unexpectedly disappeared.
845 No more group or user ids available within specified range.
850 Unable to rewrite configuration file.
852 Error updating group or user database files.
854 Update error for passwd or group database files.
859 No base home directory configured.
863 For a summary of options available with each command, you can use
864 .Dl pw [command] help
867 lists all available options for the useradd operation.
870 allows 8-bit characters in the passwd GECOS field (user's full name,
871 office, work and home phone number subfields), but disallows them in
872 user login and group names.
873 Use 8-bit characters with caution, as connection to the Internet will
874 require that your mail transport program supports 8BITMIME, and will
875 convert headers containing 8-bit characters to 7-bit quoted-printable
879 Use of 8-bit characters in the GECOS field should be used in
880 conjunction with the user's default locale and character set
881 and should not be implemented without their use.
882 Using 8-bit characters may also affect other
883 programs that transmit the contents of the GECOS field over the
886 and a small number of TCP/IP clients, such as IRC, where full names
887 specified in the passwd file may be used by default.
889 .Bl -tag -width /etc/master.passwd.new -compact
890 .It Pa /etc/master.passwd
893 A Version 7 format password file
894 .It Pa /etc/login.conf
895 The user capabilities database
898 .It Pa /etc/master.passwd.new
899 Temporary copy of the master password file
900 .It Pa /etc/passwd.new
901 Temporary copy of the Version 7 password file
902 .It Pa /etc/group.new
903 Temporary copy of the group file
905 Pw default options file
918 was written to mimic many of the options used in the SYSV
920 support suite, but is modified for passwd and group fields specific to
923 operating system, and combines all of the major elements
924 into a single command.
git.ckatri.com / pw-darwin.git / blob