.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
.\"
-.\" $Id: pw.8,v 1.10 1997/03/04 07:55:43 danny Exp $
+.\" $Id: pw.8,v 1.11 1997/10/10 06:23:33 charnier Exp $
.\"
.Dd December 9, 1996
.Dt PW 8
modifying and removing users and groups.
Note that
.Nm
-only operates on the local user and group files; NIS users and groups must be
+only operates on the local user and group files. NIS users and groups must be
maintained on the NIS server.
.Nm Pw
handles updating the
and the secure and insecure
password database files, and must be run as root.
.Pp
-The first one or two keywords provided on
-.Xr pw 8 's
-command line provide the context for the remainder of the arguments.
-One of the keywords
+The first one or two keywords provided to
+.Nm
+on the command line provide the context for the remainder of the arguments.
+The keywords
.Ar user
and
.Ar group
-may be combined or provided separately with
+may be combined with
.Ar add ,
.Ar del ,
.Ar mod ,
.Ar show ,
or
-.Ar next ,
-and may be specified in either order (ie. showuser, usershow, show user and user show
-are all considered to be the same thing).
-This flexibility is useful for interactive scripts which call
+.Ar next
+in any order. (For example,
+.Ar showuser ,
+.Ar usershow ,
+.Ar show user , and
+.Ar user show
+all mean the same thing.)
+This flexibility is useful for interactive scripts calling
.Nm
-for the actual user and group database manipulation.
+for user and group database manipulation.
Following these keywords, you may optionally specify the user or group name or numeric
id as an alternative to using the
.Fl n Ar name ,
.Fl g Ar gid
options.
.Pp
-The following flags are common to all or most modes of operation:
+The following flags are common to most modes of operation;
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
.It Fl C Ar config
.Nm
reads the file
.Pa /etc/pw.conf
-to obtain policy information on how new user accounts and groups are to be created,
-and the
+to obtain policy information on how new user accounts and groups are to be created.
+The
.Fl C
option specifies a different configuration file.
-Most of the contents in the configuration file may be overridden via command line
-options, but it may be more useful to set up standard information for addition of
-new accounts in the configuration file.
+While most of the contents of the configuration file may be overridden via
+command-line options, it may be more convenient to keep standard information in a
+configuration file.
.It Fl q
Use of this option causes
.Nm
.Nm
rather than messing up a carefully formatted display.
.It Fl N
-This option is available in add and modify operations, and causes
+This option is available in
+.Ar add
+and
+.Ar modify
+operations, and tells
.Nm
-to skip updating the user/group databases and instead print the result
-of the operation without actually performing it.
+to output the result of the operation without updating the user or group
+databases.
You may use the
.Fl P
option to switch between standard passwd and readable formats.
.Xr make 1
after changing to the directory
.Pa /var/yp .
-This is intended to allow automatic updating of the NIS database files.
+This is intended to allow automatic updating of NIS database files.
If separate passwd and group files are being used by NIS, then use the
.Fl y Ar path
-option to specify the location of the NIS passwd database so that pw
-will automatically update it concurrently with the system password
+option to specify the location of the NIS passwd database so that
+.Nm
+will concurrently update it with the system password
databases.
.El
.Pp
.Sh USER OPTIONS
The following options apply to the
-.Ar useradd ,
+.Ar useradd
and
-.Ar usermod ,
+.Ar usermod
commands:
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
.It Fl u Ar uid
Specify the user/account numeric id.
.Pp
-Usually, you need only to provide one or the other of these options, as the account
-name will imply the uid, and vice versa.
-Also, you may provide either the account or userid immediately after the
-.Ar useradd ,
-.Ar userdel ,
-.Ar usermod
-or
-.Ar usershow
-keyword on the command line without the need to use
-.Ql Fl n
-or
-.Ql Fl u .
-There are times, however, were you need to provide both.
+Usually, you only need to provide one or the other of these options, as the account
+name will imply the uid, or vice versa.
+However, there are times when you need to provide both.
For example, when changing the uid of an existing user with
.Ar usermod ,
or overriding the default uid when creating a new account.
If you wish
.Nm
-to automatically allocate the uid to a new user on
+to automatically allocate the uid to a new user with
.Ar useradd ,
then you should
.Em not
use the
.Ql Fl u
option.
+You may also provide either the account or userid immediately after the
+.Ar useradd ,
+.Ar userdel ,
+.Ar usermod
+or
+.Ar usershow
+keywords on the command line without using the
+.Ql Fl n
+or
+.Ql Fl u
+options.
.El
.Pp
-Options available with both
-.Ar useradd
-and
-.Ar usermod
-are:
.Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
.It Fl c Ar comment
This field sets the contents of the passwd GECOS field, which normally contains up
to four comma-separated fields containing the user's full name, office or location,
-work and home phone numbers.
+and work and home phone numbers.
These sub-fields are used by convention only, however, and are optional.
If this field is to contain spaces, you need to quote the comment itself with double
quotes
Avoid using commas in this field as these are used as sub-field separators, and the
colon
.Ql \&:
-character also cannot be used as this is the field separator in the passwd file.
+character also cannot be used as this is the field separator for the passwd
+file itself.
.It Fl d Ar dir
This option sets the account's home directory.
Normally, you will only use this if the home directory is to be different from the
-default (which is determined from pw.conf, which specifies the base home directory
+default determined from
+.Pa /etc/pw.conf
- normally
.Pa /home
-- with the account name as a subdirectory).
+with the account name as a subdirectory.
.It Fl e Ar date
Set the account's expiration date.
Format of the date is either a UNIX time in decimal, or a date in
-.Ql \& dd-mmm-yy[yy]
+.Ql dd-mmm-yy[yy]
format, where dd is the day, mmm is the month, either in numeric or alphabetic format
('Jan', 'Feb', etc) and year is either a two or four digit year.
This option also accepts a relative date in the form
.Ql \&n
is a decimal, octal (leading 0) or hexadecimal (leading 0x) digit followed by the
number of Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, Months or Years from the current date at
-which the expiry date is to be set.
+which the expiration date is to be set.
.It Fl p Ar date
Set the account's password expiration date.
-This field is identical to the account expiration date option, except that it
+This field is similar to the account expiration date option, except that it
applies to forced password changes.
-The same formats are accepted as with the account expiration option.
+This is set in the same manner as the
+.Ql Fl e
+option.
.It Fl g Ar group
Set the account's primary group to the given group.
.Ar group
-may be either the group name or its corresponding group id number.
+may be defined by either its name or group number.
.It Fl G Ar grouplist
-Sets the additional groups to which an account belongs.
+Sets additional group memberships for an account.
.Ar grouplist
-is a comma-separated list or group names or group ids.
-When adding a user, the user's name is added to the group lists in
+is a comma-separated list of group names or group numbers.
+The user's name is added to the group lists in
.Pa /etc/group ,
-and when editing a user, the user's name is also added to the group lists, and
+and
removed from any groups not specified in
.Ar grouplist .
-Note: a user should not be added to their primary group in
-.Pa /etc/group .
-Also, group membership changes do not take effect immediately for current logins,
-only logins subsequent to the change.
+Note: a user should not be added to their primary group with
+.Ar grouplist .
+Also, group membership changes do not take effect for current user login
+sessions, requiring the user to reconnect to be affected by the changes.
.It Fl L Ar class
This option sets the login class for the user being created.
See
.Xr login.conf 5
-for more information on user classes.
+for more information on user login classes.
.It Fl m
This option instructs
.Nm
.Ql Fl m
is used on an account with
.Ar usermod ,
-any existing configuration files in the user's home directory are
+existing configuration files in the user's home directory are
.Em not
-overwritten with the prototype files.
+overwritten from the skeleton files.
.Pp
-When a user's home directory is created, it will be default be as a subdirectory of the
+When a user's home directory is created, it will by default be a subdirectory of the
.Ar basehome
-directory specified with the
-.Ql Fl b Ar dir
-option (see below), and will be named the same as the account.
-This may be overridden with the
-.Ql Fl d Ar dir
+directory as specified by the
+.Ql Fl b
+option (see below), bearing the name of the new account.
+This can be overridden by the
+.Ql Fl d
option on the command line, if desired.
.It Fl k Ar dir
Set the
.Ar skeleton
-subdirectory, from which the basic startup and configuration files are copied when
+directory, from which basic startup and configuration files are copied when
the user's home directory is created.
-This option only has meaning when used with
-.Ql Fl D
-(see below) or
-.Ql Fl m .
+This option only has meaning when used with the
+.Ql Fl d
+or
+.Ql Fl m
+flags.
.It Fl s Ar shell
Set or changes the user's login shell to
.Ar shell .
Set the
.Em class
field in the user's passwd record.
-This field is not currently used, but will be in the future used to specify a
+This field is not currently used, but will be used in the future to specify a
.Em termcap
-entry like tag (see
+entry like tag. See
.Xr passwd 5
-for details).
+for details.
.It Fl h Ar fd
This option provides a special interface by which interactive scripts can
set an account password using
.Nm pw .
-Because the command line and environment are fundamental insecure mechanisms
+Because the command line and environment are fundamentally insecure mechanisms
by which programs can accept information,
.Nm
will only allow setting of account and group passwords via a file descriptor
.Ar ksh
and
.Ar perl
-all posses mechanisms by which this can be done.
+all possess mechanisms by which this can be done.
Alternatively,
.Nm pw
will prompt for the user's password if
is given, nominating
.Em stdin
as the file descriptor on which to read the password.
-Note that this password will be read once and once only and is intended
-for use by a script or similar rather than interactive use.
+Note that this password will be read only once and is intended
+for use by a script rather than for interactive use.
If you wish to have new password confirmation along the lines of
.Xr passwd 1 ,
-this must be implemented as part of the interactive script that calls
+this must be implemented as part of an interactive script that calls
.Nm pw .
.Pp
If a value of
.Ar fd ,
then the password will be set to
.Ql \&* ,
-rendering the account inaccessible via passworded login.
+rendering the account inaccessible via password-based login.
.El
.Pp
It is possible to use
Set the default group for new users.
If a blank group is specified using
.Ql Fl g Ar \&"" ,
-then new users will be allocated their own private primary group (a new group created
-with the same name as their login name).
+then new users will be allocated their own private primary group
+with the same name as their login name.
If a group is supplied, either its name or uid may be given as an argument.
.It Fl G Ar grouplist
-Set the default groups in which new users are made members.
+Set the default groups in which new users are granted membership.
This is a separate set of groups from the primary group, and you should avoid
-nominating the same group as both the primary and in extra groups.
+nominating the same group as both primary and extra groups.
In other words, these extra groups determine membership in groups
.Em other than
the primary group.
.Ar grouplist
-is a comma-separated list of group names or ids, or a mixture of both, and are always
+is a comma-separated list of group names or ids, and are always
stored in
.Pa /etc/pw.conf
by their symbolic names.
the information from
.Pa /etc/master.passwd
directly with NIS.
-You should only set this option on NIS servers.
+You should only set this option for NIS servers.
.El
.Pp
The
are unconditionally attached to the user name.
Jobs queued for processing by
.Ar at
-are also removed if the user's uid is unique (not also used by another account on the
-system).
+are also removed if the user's uid is unique and not also used by another account on the
+system.
.Pp
The
.Ar usershow
.Pp
.Sh GROUP OPTIONS
The
-.Ql Fl C Ar config
+.Ql Fl C
and
.Ql Fl q
options (explained at the start of the previous section) are available
versa.
You will only need to use both when setting a specific group id
against a new group or when changing the uid of an existing group.
-.It Fl M Ar memberlist
+.Ql Fl M Ar memberlist
This option provides an alternative way to add existing users to a
new group (in groupadd) or replace an existing membership list (in
groupmod).
is a comma separated list of valid and existing user names or uids.
.It Fl m Ar newmembers
Similar to
-.Op M ,
+.Ql Fl M ,
this option allows the
.Em addition
-of existing users to a group without first replacing the existing list of
+of existing users to a group without replacing the existing list of
members.
-Login names or user ids may be used, and duplicated users are automatically
-and silently eliminated.
+Login names or user ids may be used, and duplicate users are
+silently eliminated.
.El
.Pp
.Ar groupadd
also has a
.Ql Fl o
-option that allows allocation of an existing group id to new group.
+option that allows allocation of an existing group id to a new group.
The default action is to reject an attempt to add a group, and this option overrides
the check for duplicate group ids.
There is rarely any need to duplicate a group id.
.Pp
The
.Ar groupmod
-command adds one additonal option:
+command adds one additional option:
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width "-m newmembers"
.It Fl l Ar name
returns the next available group id on standard output.
.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
.Nm Pw
-returns EXIT_SUCCESS on successful operation, otherwise one of the
+returns EXIT_SUCCESS on successful operation, otherwise
+.Nm
+returns one of the
following exit codes defined by
.Xr sysexits 3
as follows:
.Bl -bullet -compact
.It
Bad or invalid data provided or missing on the command line or
-via the password flie descriptor.
+via the password file descriptor.
.It
Attempted to remove, rename root account or change its uid.
.El
.It
Base home directory is invalid or does not exist.
.It
-Invalid or non-existant shell specified.
+Invalid or non-existent shell specified.
.El
.It EX_NOUSER
.Bl -bullet -compact
.It
User, user id, group or group id specified does not exist.
.It
-User or group recorded added or modified unexpectedly disappeared.
+User or group recorded, added, or modified unexpectedly disappeared.
.El
.It EX_SOFTWARE
.Bl -bullet -compact
lists all available options for the useradd operation.
.Pp
.Nm Pw
-allows 8-bit characters in the passwd gecos field (user's full name,
+allows 8-bit characters in the passwd GECOS field (user's full name,
office, work and home phone number subfields), but disallows them in
user login and group names.
-Use 8-bit characters with caution, as connection to the internet will
+Use 8-bit characters with caution, as connection to the Internet will
require that your mail transport program supports 8BITMIME, and will
convert headers containing 8-bit characters to 7-bit quoted-printable
format.
.Xr sendmail 8
does support this.
-Use of 8-bit characters in the gecos field should be used in
+Use of 8-bit characters in the GECOS field should be used in
conjunction with the user's default locale and character set
and should not be implemented without their use.
Using 8-bit characters may also affect other
-programs that transmit the contents of the gecos field over the
-internet, such as
+programs that transmit the contents of the GECOS field over the
+Internet, such as
.Xr fingerd 8 ,
-and a small number of tcpip clients, such as irc, where fullnames
+and a small number of TCP/IP clients, such as IRC, where full names
specified in the passwd file may be used by default.
.Sh FILES
.Bl -tag -width /etc/master.passwd.new -compact
git.ckatri.com / pw-darwin.git / commitdiff