-.Nm Adduser
-is a simple program for adding new users. Adduser check
-passwd, group and shell database. It create passwd/group entry,
-HOME-directory, dotfiles and send new user a welcome message.
-
-.Sh RESTRICTION
-.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
-.It Sy username
-Login name. Only lowercase characters or digits.
-.It Sy fullname
-Firstname and surname.
-.Ql Pa \:
-not allowed.
-.It Sy shell
-Only valid shells from shell database or sliplogin and pppd
-.It Sy uid
-Automatic generated or your choise. Less than 32000.
-.It Sy gid/login group
-Your choise or automatic generated.
-.It Sy password
-If not empty password is encoded with crypt.
+The
+.Nm
+utility is a shell script, implemented around the
+.Xr pw 8
+command, for adding new users.
+It creates passwd/group entries, a home directory,
+copies dotfiles and sends the new user a welcome message.
+It supports two modes of operation.
+It may be used interactively
+at the command line to add one user at a time, or it may be directed
+to get the list of new users from a file and operate in batch mode
+without requiring any user interaction.
+.Sh RESTRICTIONS
+.Bl -tag -width indent
+.It username
+Login name.
+The user name is restricted to whatever
+.Xr pw 8
+will accept.
+Generally this means it
+may contain only lowercase characters or digits but cannot begin with the
+.Ql -
+character.
+Maximum length
+is 16 characters.
+The reasons for this limit are historical.
+Given that people have traditionally wanted to break this
+limit for aesthetic reasons, it has never been of great importance to break
+such a basic fundamental parameter in
+.Ux .
+You can change
+.Dv UT_NAMESIZE
+in
+.In utmp.h
+and recompile the
+world; people have done this and it works, but you will have problems
+with any precompiled programs, or source that assumes the 8-character
+name limit, such as NIS.
+The NIS protocol mandates an 8-character username.
+If you need a longer login name for e-mail addresses,
+you can define an alias in
+.Pa /etc/mail/aliases .
+.It "full name"
+This is typically known as the gecos field and usually contains
+the user's full name.
+Additionally, it may contain a comma separated
+list of values such as office number and work and home phones.
+If the
+name contains an ampersand it will be replaced by the capitalized
+login name when displayed by other programs.
+The
+.Ql \&:
+character is not allowed.
+.It shell
+Unless the
+.Fl S
+argument is supplied only valid shells from the shell database
+.Pq Pa /etc/shells
+are allowed.
+In addition,
+either the base name or the full path of the shell may be supplied.
+.It UID
+Automatically generated or your choice.
+It must be less than 32000.
+.It "GID/login group"
+Automatically generated or your choice.
+It must be less than 32000.
+.It password
+You may choose an empty password, disable the password, use a
+randomly generated password or specify your own plaintext password,
+which will be encrypted before being stored in the user database.