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32 .Nd create, remove, modify & display system users and groups
56 .Op Fl h Ar fd | Fl H Ar fd
75 .Op Fl u Ar min , Ns Ar max
76 .Op Fl i Ar min , Ns Ar max
103 .Op Fl G Ar grouplist
111 .Op Fl h Ar fd | Fl H Ar fd
143 .Op Fl h Ar fd | Fl H Ar fd
166 .Op Fl m Ar newmembers
167 .Op Fl d Ar oldmembers
168 .Op Fl h Ar fd | Fl H Ar fd
205 utility is a command-line based editor for the system
209 files, allowing the superuser an easy to use and standardized way of adding,
210 modifying and removing users and groups.
213 only operates on the local user and group files.
215 users and groups must be
221 utility handles updating the
225 and the secure and insecure
226 password database files, and must be run as root.
228 The first one or two keywords provided to
230 on the command line provide the context for the remainder of the arguments.
249 all mean the same thing.)
250 This flexibility is useful for interactive scripts calling
252 for user and group database manipulation.
253 Following these keywords, you may optionally specify the user or group name or numeric
254 id as an alternative to using the
260 The following flags are common to most or all modes of operation:
261 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
263 Specifies an alternate root directory within which
266 Any paths specified will be relative to
269 This flag sets an alternate location for the password, group and configuration files,
270 and may be used to maintain a user/group database in an alternate location.
271 If this switch is specified, the system
273 will not be sourced for default configuration data, but the file pw.conf in the
274 specified directory will be used instead (or none, if it does not exist).
277 flag may be used to override this behaviour.
278 As an exception to the general rule where options must follow the operation
281 flag must be used on the command line before the operation keyword.
287 to obtain policy information on how new user accounts and groups are to be created.
290 option specifies a different configuration file.
291 While most of the contents of the configuration file may be overridden via
292 command-line options, it may be more convenient to keep standard information in a
295 Use of this option causes
297 to suppress error messages, which may be useful in interactive environments where it
298 is preferable to interpret status codes returned by
300 rather than messing up a carefully formatted display.
302 This option is available in
306 operations, and tells
308 to output the result of the operation without updating the user or group
312 option to switch between standard passwd and readable formats.
314 Using this option with any of the update modes causes
318 after changing to the directory
320 This is intended to allow automatic updating of
323 If separate passwd and group files are being used by
327 option to specify the location of the
329 passwd database so that
331 will concurrently update it with the system password
335 The following options apply to the
340 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
342 Specify the user/account name.
344 Specify the user/account numeric id.
346 Usually, you only need to provide one or the other of these options, as the account
347 name will imply the uid, or vice versa.
348 However, there are times when you need to provide both.
349 For example, when changing the uid of an existing user with
351 or overriding the default uid when creating a new account.
354 to automatically allocate the uid to a new user with
361 You may also provide either the account or userid immediately after the
367 keywords on the command line without using the
373 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
375 This field sets the contents of the passwd GECOS field, which normally contains up
376 to four comma-separated fields containing the user's full name, office or location,
377 and work and home phone numbers.
378 These sub-fields are used by convention only, however, and are optional.
379 If this field is to contain spaces, you need to quote the comment itself with double
382 Avoid using commas in this field as these are used as sub-field separators, and the
385 character also cannot be used as this is the field separator for the passwd
388 This option sets the account's home directory.
389 Normally, you will only use this if the home directory is to be different from the
390 default determined from
394 with the account name as a subdirectory.
396 Set the account's expiration date.
397 Format of the date is either a UNIX time in decimal, or a date in
399 format, where dd is the day, mmm is the month, either in numeric or alphabetic format
400 ('Jan', 'Feb', etc) and year is either a two or four digit year.
401 This option also accepts a relative date in the form
405 is a decimal, octal (leading 0) or hexadecimal (leading 0x) digit followed by the
406 number of Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, Months or Years from the current date at
407 which the expiration date is to be set.
409 Set the account's password expiration date.
410 This field is similar to the account expiration date option, except that it
411 applies to forced password changes.
412 This is set in the same manner as the
416 Set the account's primary group to the given group.
418 may be defined by either its name or group number.
419 .It Fl G Ar grouplist
420 Set additional group memberships for an account.
422 is a comma, space or tab-separated list of group names or group numbers.
423 The user's name is added to the group lists in
426 removed from any groups not specified in
428 Note: a user should not be added to their primary group with
430 Also, group membership changes do not take effect for current user login
431 sessions, requiring the user to reconnect to be affected by the changes.
433 This option sets the login class for the user being created.
438 for more information on user login classes.
440 This option instructs
442 to attempt to create the user's home directory.
443 While primarily useful when adding a new account with
445 this may also be of use when moving an existing user's home directory elsewhere on
447 The new home directory is populated with the contents of the
449 directory, which typically contains a set of shell configuration files that the
450 user may personalize to taste.
451 Files in this directory are usually named
452 .Pa dot . Ns Aq Ar config
455 prefix will be stripped.
458 is used on an account with
460 existing configuration files in the user's home directory are
462 overwritten from the skeleton files.
464 When a user's home directory is created, it will by default be a subdirectory of the
466 directory as specified by the
468 option (see below), bearing the name of the new account.
469 This can be overridden by the
471 option on the command line, if desired.
473 Create the user's home directory with the specified
475 modified by the current
477 If omitted, it is derived from the parent process'
479 This option is only useful in combination with the
485 directory, from which basic startup and configuration files are copied when
486 the user's home directory is created.
487 This option only has meaning when used with the
493 Set or changes the user's login shell to
495 If the path to the shell program is omitted,
501 and fills it in as appropriate.
502 Note that unless you have a specific reason to do so, you should avoid
503 specifying the path - this will allow
505 to validate that the program exists and is executable.
506 Specifying a full path (or supplying a blank "" shell) avoids this check
507 and allows for such entries as
509 that should be set for accounts not intended for interactive login.
511 This option provides a special interface by which interactive scripts can
512 set an account password using
514 Because the command line and environment are fundamentally insecure mechanisms
515 by which programs can accept information,
517 will only allow setting of account and group passwords via a file descriptor
518 (usually a pipe between an interactive script and the program).
524 all possess mechanisms by which this can be done.
527 will prompt for the user's password if
531 as the file descriptor on which to read the password.
532 Note that this password will be read only once and is intended
533 for use by a script rather than for interactive use.
534 If you wish to have new password confirmation along the lines of
536 this must be implemented as part of an interactive script that calls
541 is given as the argument
543 then the password will be set to
545 rendering the account inaccessible via password-based login.
547 Read an encrypted password string from the specified file descriptor.
550 but the password should be supplied already encrypted in a form
551 suitable for writing directly to the password database.
554 It is possible to use
556 to create a new account that duplicates an existing user id.
557 While this is normally considered an error and will be rejected, the
559 option overrides the check for duplicates and allows the duplication of
561 This may be useful if you allow the same user to login under
562 different contexts (different group allocations, different home
563 directory, different shell) while providing basically the same
564 permissions for access to the user's files in each account.
568 command also has the ability to set new user and group defaults by using the
571 Instead of adding a new user,
573 writes a new set of defaults to its configuration file,
577 option, you must not use either
581 or an error will result.
584 changes the meaning of several command line switches in the
588 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
590 Set default values in
592 configuration file, or a different named configuration file if the
596 Set the root directory in which user home directories are created.
597 The default value for this is
599 but it may be set elsewhere as desired.
601 Set the default account expiration period in days.
604 the argument must be numeric, which specifies the number of days after creation when
605 the account is to expire.
606 A value of 0 suppresses automatic calculation of the expiry date.
608 Set the default password expiration period in days.
610 Set the default group for new users.
611 If a blank group is specified using
613 then new users will be allocated their own private primary group
614 with the same name as their login name.
615 If a group is supplied, either its name or uid may be given as an argument.
616 .It Fl G Ar grouplist
617 Set the default groups in which new users are granted membership.
618 This is a separate set of groups from the primary group, and you should avoid
619 nominating the same group as both primary and extra groups.
620 In other words, these extra groups determine membership in groups
624 is a comma-separated list of group names or ids, and are always
627 by their symbolic names.
629 This option sets the default login class for new users.
633 directory, from which prototype shell and other initialization files are copied when
635 creates a user's home directory.
638 for naming conventions of these files.
640 .Fl u Ar min , Ns Ar max ,
641 .Fl i Ar min , Ns Ar max
643 These options set the minimum and maximum user and group ids allocated for new accounts
644 and groups created by
646 The default values for each is 1000 minimum and 32000 maximum.
650 are both numbers, where max must be greater than min, and both must be between 0
652 In general, user and group ids less than 100 are reserved for use by the system,
653 and numbers greater than 32000 may also be reserved for special purposes (used by
654 some system daemons).
658 option sets the default method used to set passwords for newly created user accounts.
662 .Bl -tag -width random -offset indent -compact
664 disable login on newly created accounts
666 force the password to be the account name
668 force a blank password
670 generate a random password
677 methods are the most secure; in the former case,
679 generates a password and prints it to stdout, which is suitable where you issue
680 users with passwords to access their accounts rather than having the user nominate
681 their own (possibly poorly chosen) password.
684 method requires that the superuser use
686 to render the account accessible with a password.
688 This sets the pathname of the database used by
690 if you are not sharing
692 .Pa /etc/master.passwd
695 You should only set this option for
702 command has only three valid options.
707 options have already been covered above.
708 The additional option is:
709 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
713 to remove the user's home directory and all of its contents.
716 utility errs on the side of caution when removing files from the system.
717 Firstly, it will not do so if the uid of the account being removed is also used by
718 another account on the system, and the 'home' directory in the password file is
719 a valid path that commences with the character
721 Secondly, it will only remove files and directories that are actually owned by
722 the user, or symbolic links owned by anyone under the user's home directory.
723 Finally, after deleting all contents owned by the user only empty directories
725 If any additional cleanup work is required, this is left to the administrator.
728 Mail spool files and crontabs are always removed when an account is deleted as these
729 are unconditionally attached to the user name.
730 Jobs queued for processing by
732 are also removed if the user's uid is unique and not also used by another account on the
737 command adds one additional option:
738 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
740 This option allows changing of an existing account name to
742 The new name must not already exist, and any attempt to duplicate an
743 existing account name will be rejected.
748 command allows viewing of an account in one of two formats.
749 By default, the format is identical to the format used in
750 .Pa /etc/master.passwd
751 with the password field replaced with a
757 outputs the account details in a more human readable form.
760 option is used, the account details are shown in v7 format.
763 option lists all users currently on file.
768 to print the details of an account even if it does not exist.
772 returns the next available user and group ids separated by a colon.
773 This is normally of interest only to interactive scripts or front-ends
781 options (explained at the start of the previous section) are available
782 with the group manipulation commands.
783 Other common options to all group-related commands are:
784 .Bl -tag -width "-m newmembers"
786 Specify the group name.
788 Specify the group numeric id.
790 As with the account name and id fields, you will usually only need
791 to supply one of these, as the group name implies the uid and vice
793 You will only need to use both when setting a specific group id
794 against a new group or when changing the uid of an existing group.
795 .It Fl M Ar memberlist
796 This option provides an alternative way to add existing users to a
797 new group (in groupadd) or replace an existing membership list (in
800 is a comma separated list of valid and existing user names or uids.
801 .It Fl m Ar newmembers
804 this option allows the
806 of existing users to a group without replacing the existing list of
808 Login names or user ids may be used, and duplicate users are
810 .It Fl d Ar oldmembers
813 this option allows the
815 of existing users from a group without replacing the existing list of
817 Login names or user ids may be used, and duplicate users are
824 option that allows allocation of an existing group id to a new group.
825 The default action is to reject an attempt to add a group, and this option overrides
826 the check for duplicate group ids.
827 There is rarely any need to duplicate a group id.
831 command adds one additional option:
832 .Bl -tag -width "-m newmembers"
834 This option allows changing of an existing group name to
836 The new name must not already exist, and any attempt to duplicate an existing group
837 name will be rejected.
848 to specify the group id.
851 option does not apply to the
857 returns the next available group id on standard output.
862 supports a simple password locking mechanism for users; it works by
863 prepending the string
865 to the beginning of the password field in
867 to prevent successful authentication.
873 commands take a user name or uid of the account to lock or unlock,
880 options as described above are accepted by these commands.
882 For a summary of options available with each command, you can use
883 .Dl pw [command] help
886 lists all available options for the useradd operation.
890 utility allows 8-bit characters in the passwd GECOS field (user's full name,
891 office, work and home phone number subfields), but disallows them in
892 user login and group names.
893 Use 8-bit characters with caution, as connection to the Internet will
894 require that your mail transport program supports 8BITMIME, and will
895 convert headers containing 8-bit characters to 7-bit quoted-printable
899 Use of 8-bit characters in the GECOS field should be used in
900 conjunction with the user's default locale and character set
901 and should not be implemented without their use.
902 Using 8-bit characters may also affect other
903 programs that transmit the contents of the GECOS field over the
906 and a small number of TCP/IP clients, such as IRC, where full names
907 specified in the passwd file may be used by default.
911 utility writes a log to the
913 file when actions such as user or group additions or deletions occur.
914 The location of this logfile can be changed in
917 .Bl -tag -width /etc/master.passwd.new -compact
918 .It Pa /etc/master.passwd
921 A Version 7 format password file
922 .It Pa /etc/login.conf
923 The user capabilities database
927 Pw default options file
928 .It Pa /var/log/userlog
929 User/group modification logfile
934 utility returns EXIT_SUCCESS on successful operation, otherwise
937 following exit codes defined by
944 Command line syntax errors (invalid keyword, unknown option).
949 Attempting to run one of the update modes as non-root.
954 Memory allocation error.
956 Read error from password file descriptor.
961 Bad or invalid data provided or missing on the command line or
962 via the password file descriptor.
964 Attempted to remove, rename root account or change its uid.
969 Skeleton directory is invalid or does not exist.
971 Base home directory is invalid or does not exist.
973 Invalid or non-existent shell specified.
978 User, user id, group or group id specified does not exist.
980 User or group recorded, added, or modified unexpectedly disappeared.
985 No more group or user ids available within specified range.
990 Unable to rewrite configuration file.
992 Error updating group or user database files.
994 Update error for passwd or group database files.
999 No base home directory configured.
1015 utility was written to mimic many of the options used in the SYSV
1017 support suite, but is modified for passwd and group fields specific to
1020 operating system, and combines all of the major elements
1021 into a single command.
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