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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27 .\" $FreeBSD: src/usr.sbin/adduser/adduser.8,v 1.55 2004/06/06 17:55:55 mtm Exp $
28 .\" $DragonFly: src/usr.sbin/adduser/adduser.8,v 1.4 2007/05/17 08:19:03 swildner Exp $
35 .Nd command for adding new users
40 .Op Fl L Ar login_class
43 .Op Fl g Ar login_group
45 .Op Fl m Ar message_file
52 utility is a shell script, implemented around the
54 command, for adding new users.
55 It creates passwd/group entries, a home directory,
56 copies dotfiles and sends the new user a welcome message.
57 It supports two modes of operation.
58 It may be used interactively
59 at the command line to add one user at a time, or it may be directed
60 to get the list of new users from a file and operate in batch mode
61 without requiring any user interaction.
63 .Bl -tag -width indent
66 The user name is restricted to whatever
69 Generally this means it
70 may contain only lowercase characters or digits.
73 The reasons for this limit are historical.
74 Given that people have traditionally wanted to break this
75 limit for aesthetic reasons, it has never been of great importance to break
76 such a basic fundamental parameter in
83 world; people have done this and it works, but you will have problems
84 with any precompiled programs, or source that assumes the 8-character
86 The NIS protocol mandates an 8-character username.
87 If you need a longer login name for e-mail addresses,
88 you can define an alias in
89 .Pa /etc/mail/aliases .
91 This is typically known as the gecos field and usually contains
93 Additionally, it may contain a comma separated
94 list of values such as office number and work and home phones.
96 name contains an ampersand it will be replaced by the capitalized
97 login name when displayed by other programs.
100 character is not allowed.
104 argument is supplied only valid shells from the shell database
108 either the base name or the full path of the shell may be supplied.
110 Automatically generated or your choice.
111 It must be less than 32000.
112 .It "GID/login group"
113 Automatically generated or your choice.
114 It must be less than 32000.
116 You may choose an empty password, disable the password, use a
117 randomly generated password or specify your own plaintext password,
118 which will be encrypted before being stored in the user database.
121 Perhaps you are missing what
123 be done with this scheme that falls apart
124 with most other schemes.
125 With each user in their own group,
126 they can safely run with a umask of 002 instead of the usual 022
127 and create files in their home directory
128 without worrying about others being able to change them.
130 For a shared area you create a separate UID/GID (like cvs or ncvs on freefall),
131 you place each person that should be able to access this area into that new
134 This model of UID/GID administration allows far greater flexibility than lumping
135 users into groups and having to muck with the umask when working in a shared
138 I have been using this model for almost 10 years and found that it works
139 for most situations, and has never gotten in the way.
144 utility reads its configuration information from
145 .Pa /etc/adduser.conf .
146 If this file does not exist, it will use predefined defaults.
147 While this file may be edited by hand,
148 the safer option is to use the
150 command line argument.
153 will start interactive input, save the answers to its prompts in
154 .Pa /etc/adduser.conf ,
155 and promptly exit without modifying the user
157 Options specified on the command line will take precedence over
158 any values saved in this file.
160 .Bl -tag -width indent
162 Create new configuration file and exit.
163 This option is mutually exclusive with the
166 .It Fl d Ar partition
168 Default partition, under which all user directories
172 partition is considered special.
175 script will not create and populate a home directory by that name.
177 by default it attempts to create a home directory.
179 Do not attempt to create the home directory.
182 This option will lock the account by prepending the string
184 to the password field.
185 The account may be unlocked
186 by the super-user with the
190 .D1 Nm pw Cm unlock Op Ar name | uid
192 Get the list of accounts to create from
198 then get the list from standard input.
199 If this option is specified,
201 will operate in batch mode and will not seek any user input.
202 If an error is encountered while processing an account, it will write a
203 message to standard error and move to the next account.
205 of the input file is described below.
206 .It Fl g Ar login_group
208 if no login group is specified,
209 it is assumed to be the same as the username.
215 This option allows the user to specify additional groups to add users to.
216 The user is a member of these groups in addition to their login group.
218 Print a summary of options and exit.
219 .It Fl k Ar directory
223 directory of new users;
227 .It Fl L Ar login_class
228 Set default login class.
230 Send new users a welcome message from
232 Specifying a value of
236 causes no message to be sent to new users.
237 Please note that the message
238 file can reference the internal variables of the
242 Do not read the default configuration file.
244 Minimal user feedback.
245 In particular, the random password will not be echoed to
248 Default shell for new users.
251 argument may be the base name of the shell or the full path.
254 argument is supplied the shell must exist in
256 or be the special shell
258 to be considered a valid shell.
260 The existence or validity of the specified shell will not be checked.
269 utility allows the user to specify what type of password to create.
272 argument may have one of the following values:
273 .Bl -tag -width ".Cm random"
275 Disable the password.
276 Instead of an encrypted string, the password field will contain a single
279 The user may not log in until the super-user
280 manually enables the password.
282 Use an empty string as the password.
284 Use a user-supplied string as the password.
286 the user will be prompted for the password.
288 last (10th) field in the line is assumed to be the password.
290 Generate a random string and use it as a password.
291 The password will be echoed to standard output.
292 In addition, it will be available for inclusion in the message file in the
300 option is used, the account information must be stored in a specific
302 All empty lines or lines beginning with a
305 All other lines must contain ten colon
307 separated fields as described below.
308 Command line options do not take precedence
309 over values in the fields.
310 Only the password field may contain a
312 character as part of the string.
315 .D1 Ar name : uid : gid : class : change : expire : gecos : home_dir : shell : password
317 .Bl -tag -width ".Ar password"
320 This field may not be empty.
322 Numeric login user ID.
323 If this field is left empty, it will be automatically generated.
325 Numeric primary group ID.
326 If this field is left empty, a group with the
327 same name as the user name will be created and its GID will be used
331 This field may be left empty.
334 This field denotes the password change date for the account.
335 The format of this field is the same as the format of the
340 .Ar dd Ns - Ns Ar mmm Ns - Ns Ar yy Ns Op Ar yy ,
345 is for the month in numeric or alphabetical format:
351 is the four or two digit year.
352 To denote a time relative to the current date the format is:
353 .No + Ns Ar n Ns Op Ar mhdwoy ,
356 denotes a number, followed by the minutes, hours, days, weeks,
357 months or years after which the password must be changed.
358 This field may be left empty to turn it off.
361 This field denotes the expiry date of the account.
362 The account may not be used after the specified date.
363 The format of this field is the same as that for password ageing.
364 This field may be left empty to turn it off.
366 Full name and other extra information about the user.
369 If this field is left empty, it will be automatically
370 created by appending the username to the home partition.
373 home directory is considered special and
374 is understood to mean that no home directory is to be
375 created for the user.
378 This field should contain either the base name or
379 the full path to a valid login shell.
382 This field should contain a plaintext string, which will
383 be encrypted before being placed in the user database.
384 If the password type is
386 and this field is empty, it is assumed the account will have an empty password.
387 If the password type is
391 empty, its contents will be used
393 This field will be ignored if the
395 option is used with a
400 Be careful not to terminate this field with a closing
402 because it will be treated as part of the password.
405 .Bl -tag -width ".Pa /etc/adduser.message" -compact
406 .It Pa /etc/master.passwd
412 .It Pa /etc/login.conf
413 login classes database
414 .It Pa /etc/adduser.conf
415 configuration file for
417 .It Pa /etc/adduser.message
420 .It Pa /usr/share/skel
421 skeletal login directory
422 .It Pa /var/log/adduser
447 This manual page and the original script, in Perl, was written by
448 .An Wolfram Schneider Aq wosch@FreeBSD.org .
449 The replacement script, written as a Bourne
450 shell script with some enhancements, and the man page modification that
451 came with it were done by
452 .An Mike Makonnen Aq mtm@identd.net .
456 to correctly expand variables such as
460 in the message sent to new users, it must let the shell evaluate
461 each line of the message file.
462 This means that shell commands can also be embedded in the message file.
465 utility attempts to mitigate the possibility of an attacker using this
466 feature by refusing to evaluate the file if it is not owned and writeable
467 only by the root user.
468 In addition, shell special characters and operators will have to be
469 escaped when used in the message file.
471 Also, password ageing and account expiry times are currently settable
472 only in batch mode or when specified in
473 .Pa /etc/adduser.conf .
474 The user should be able to set them in interactive mode as well.