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.
72 The reasons for this limit are historical.
73 Given that people have traditionally wanted to break this
74 limit for aesthetic reasons, it has never been of great importance to break
75 such a basic fundamental parameter in
82 world; people have done this and it works, but you will have problems
83 with any precompiled programs, or source that assumes the 8-character
85 The NIS protocol mandates an 8-character username.
86 If you need a longer login name for e-mail addresses,
87 you can define an alias in
88 .Pa /etc/mail/aliases .
90 This is typically known as the gecos field and usually contains
92 Additionally, it may contain a comma separated
93 list of values such as office number and work and home phones.
95 name contains an ampersand it will be replaced by the capitalized
96 login name when displayed by other programs.
99 character is not allowed.
103 argument is supplied only valid shells from the shell database
107 either the base name or the full path of the shell may be supplied.
109 Automatically generated or your choice.
110 It must be less than 32000.
111 .It "GID/login group"
112 Automatically generated or your choice.
113 It must be less than 32000.
115 You may choose an empty password, disable the password, use a
116 randomly generated password or specify your own plaintext password,
117 which will be encrypted before being stored in the user database.
120 Perhaps you are missing what
122 be done with this scheme that falls apart
123 with most other schemes.
124 With each user in their own group,
125 they can safely run with a umask of 002 instead of the usual 022
126 and create files in their home directory
127 without worrying about others being able to change them.
129 For a shared area you create a separate UID/GID (like cvs or ncvs on freefall),
130 you place each person that should be able to access this area into that new
133 This model of UID/GID administration allows far greater flexibility than lumping
134 users into groups and having to muck with the umask when working in a shared
137 I have been using this model for almost 10 years and found that it works
138 for most situations, and has never gotten in the way.
143 utility reads its configuration information from
144 .Pa /etc/adduser.conf .
145 If this file does not exist, it will use predefined defaults.
146 While this file may be edited by hand,
147 the safer option is to use the
149 command line argument.
152 will start interactive input, save the answers to its prompts in
153 .Pa /etc/adduser.conf ,
154 and promptly exit without modifying the user
156 Options specified on the command line will take precedence over
157 any values saved in this file.
159 .Bl -tag -width indent
161 Create new configuration file and exit.
162 This option is mutually exclusive with the
165 .It Fl d Ar partition
167 Default partition, under which all user directories
171 partition is considered special.
174 script will not create and populate a home directory by that name.
176 by default it attempts to create a home directory.
178 Do not attempt to create the home directory.
181 This option will lock the account by prepending the string
183 to the password field.
184 The account may be unlocked
185 by the super-user with the
189 .D1 Nm pw Cm unlock Op Ar name | uid
191 Get the list of accounts to create from
197 then get the list from standard input.
198 If this option is specified,
200 will operate in batch mode and will not seek any user input.
201 If an error is encountered while processing an account, it will write a
202 message to standard error and move to the next account.
204 of the input file is described below.
205 .It Fl g Ar login_group
207 if no login group is specified,
208 it is assumed to be the same as the username.
214 This option allows the user to specify additional groups to add users to.
215 The user is a member of these groups in addition to their login group.
217 Print a summary of options and exit.
218 .It Fl k Ar directory
222 directory of new users;
226 .It Fl L Ar login_class
227 Set default login class.
229 Send new users a welcome message from
231 Specifying a value of
235 causes no message to be sent to new users.
236 Please note that the message
237 file can reference the internal variables of the
241 Do not read the default configuration file.
243 Minimal user feedback.
244 In particular, the random password will not be echoed to
247 Default shell for new users.
250 argument may be the base name of the shell or the full path.
253 argument is supplied the shell must exist in
255 or be the special shell
257 to be considered a valid shell.
259 The existence or validity of the specified shell will not be checked.
268 utility allows the user to specify what type of password to create.
271 argument may have one of the following values:
272 .Bl -tag -width ".Cm random"
274 Disable the password.
275 Instead of an encrypted string, the password field will contain a single
278 The user may not log in until the super-user
279 manually enables the password.
281 Use an empty string as the password.
283 Use a user-supplied string as the password.
285 the user will be prompted for the password.
287 last (10th) field in the line is assumed to be the password.
289 Generate a random string and use it as a password.
290 The password will be echoed to standard output.
291 In addition, it will be available for inclusion in the message file in the
299 option is used, the account information must be stored in a specific
301 All empty lines or lines beginning with a
304 All other lines must contain ten colon
306 separated fields as described below.
307 Command line options do not take precedence
308 over values in the fields.
309 Only the password field may contain a
311 character as part of the string.
314 .D1 Ar name : uid : gid : class : change : expire : gecos : home_dir : shell : password
316 .Bl -tag -width ".Ar password"
319 This field may not be empty.
321 Numeric login user ID.
322 If this field is left empty, it will be automatically generated.
324 Numeric primary group ID.
325 If this field is left empty, a group with the
326 same name as the user name will be created and its GID will be used
330 This field may be left empty.
333 This field denotes the password change date for the account.
334 The format of this field is the same as the format of the
339 .Ar dd Ns - Ns Ar mmm Ns - Ns Ar yy Ns Op Ar yy ,
344 is for the month in numeric or alphabetical format:
350 is the four or two digit year.
351 To denote a time relative to the current date the format is:
352 .No + Ns Ar n Ns Op Ar mhdwoy ,
355 denotes a number, followed by the minutes, hours, days, weeks,
356 months or years after which the password must be changed.
357 This field may be left empty to turn it off.
360 This field denotes the expiry date of the account.
361 The account may not be used after the specified date.
362 The format of this field is the same as that for password ageing.
363 This field may be left empty to turn it off.
365 Full name and other extra information about the user.
368 If this field is left empty, it will be automatically
369 created by appending the username to the home partition.
372 home directory is considered special and
373 is understood to mean that no home directory is to be
374 created for the user.
377 This field should contain either the base name or
378 the full path to a valid login shell.
381 This field should contain a plaintext string, which will
382 be encrypted before being placed in the user database.
383 If the password type is
385 and this field is empty, it is assumed the account will have an empty password.
386 If the password type is
390 empty, its contents will be used
392 This field will be ignored if the
394 option is used with a
399 Be careful not to terminate this field with a closing
401 because it will be treated as part of the password.
404 .Bl -tag -width ".Pa /etc/adduser.message" -compact
405 .It Pa /etc/master.passwd
411 .It Pa /etc/login.conf
412 login classes database
413 .It Pa /etc/adduser.conf
414 configuration file for
416 .It Pa /etc/adduser.message
419 .It Pa /usr/share/skel
420 skeletal login directory
421 .It Pa /var/log/adduser
446 This manual page and the original script, in Perl, was written by
447 .An Wolfram Schneider Aq wosch@FreeBSD.org .
448 The replacement script, written as a Bourne
449 shell script with some enhancements, and the man page modification that
450 came with it were done by
451 .An Mike Makonnen Aq mtm@identd.net .
455 to correctly expand variables such as
459 in the message sent to new users, it must let the shell evaluate
460 each line of the message file.
461 This means that shell commands can also be embedded in the message file.
464 utility attempts to mitigate the possibility of an attacker using this
465 feature by refusing to evaluate the file if it is not owned and writeable
466 only by the root user.
467 In addition, shell special characters and operators will have to be
468 escaped when used in the message file.
470 Also, password ageing and account expiry times are currently setable
471 only in batch mode or when specified in
472 .Pa /etc/adduser.conf .
473 The user should be able to set them in interactive mode as well.