freebsd-dev/usr.sbin/adduser/adduser.8

.\" Copyright (c) 1995-1996 Wolfram Schneider <wosch@FreeBSD.org>. Berlin.
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.\" $Id: adduser.8,v 1.12 1996/08/28 17:54:13 adam Exp $

.Dd Jan, 9, 1995
.Dt ADDUSER 8
.Os FreeBSD 2.1
.Sh NAME
.Nm adduser
.Nd command for adding new users

.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm adduser
    [-batch username [group[,group]...] [fullname] [password]]
    [-check_only] [-config_create] [-dotdir dotdir] 
    [-group login_group] [-h|-help] [-home home] 
    [-message message_file] [-noconfig] [-shell shell] 
    [-s|-silent|-q|-quit] [-uid uid_start] [-v|-verbose]


.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm Adduser 
is a simple program for adding new users. Adduser checks
passwd, group and shell database. It creates passwd/group entry,
HOME-directory, dotfiles and sends new user a welcome message.

.Sh RESTRICTION
.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
.It Sy username
Login name. Only lowercase characters or digits. Maximum length
is 8 characters (see 
.Xr setlogin 2
BUGS section). 
The reasons for this limit are "Historical". 
Given that people have traditionally wanted to break this
limit for aesthetic reasons, it's never been of great importance to break
such a basic fundamental parameter in UNIX.
You can change UT_NAMESIZE in /usr/include/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 and 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/aliases .
.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
Automatically generated or your choice, less than 32000.
.It Sy gid/login group
Your choice or automatically generated. 
.It Sy password
If not empty, password is encoded with crypt.
.El

.Sh UNIQUE GROUP
Perhaps you're missing what *can* be done with this scheme that falls apart
with most other schemes.  With each user in his/her own group the user can
safely run with a umask of 002 and have files created in their home directory
and not worry about others being able to read them.

For a shared area you create a separate uid/gid (like cvs or ncvs on freefall),
you place each person that should be able to access this area into that new
group.

This model of uid/gid administration allows far greater flexibility than lumping
users into groups and having to muck with the umask when working in a shared
area.

I have been using this model for almost 10 years and found that it works
for most situations, and has never gotten in the way.  (Rod Grimes)

.Sh CONFIGURATION
.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
.It Sy 1.
Read intern variables.
.It Sy 2.
Read config file (/etc/adduser.conf)
.It Sy 3.
Parse command line options
.El

.Sh OPTIONS
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Sy -batch username [group[,group]...] [fullname] [password]
Batch mode.

.It Sy -check_only
Check /etc/passwd, /etc/group, /etc/shells and exit.

.It Sy -create_config
Create new config and message file and exit. 

.It Sy -dotdir Ar directory
Copy files from 
.Ar directory 
into the HOME-directory of new users,
.Ql Pa dot.foo
files renamed to 
.Ql Pa .foo .
Don't copy files if
.Ar directory 
equal with 
.Ar no .
For security make all files writable and readable for owner,
don't allow group or world to write files and allow only owner
to read/execute/write .rhost, .Xauthority, .kermrc, .netrc, Mail,
prv, iscreen, term.

.It Sy -group Ar login_group
Login group. 
.Ar USER
means use username as login group.

.It Sy -help,-h,-?
Print options and exit.

.It Sy -home Ar partition
Default home partition where all users located.

.It Sy -message Ar file
Send new users a welcome message.
Don't send message if
.Ar file 
equal with
.Ar no .

.It Sy -noconfig
Do not read config file.

.It Sy -shell Ar shell 
Default shell for new users.

.It Sy -silent,-s,-quit,-q
Few warnings, question, bug reports. 

.It Sy -uid Ar uid
Use uid's from 
.Ar uid
up.

.It Sy -verbose,-v
Many warning, question. Recommended for novice users.



.Sh FORMATS
.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
.Ql Pa #
is a comment.  

.P
.It Sy config file
.Nm Adduser
reads and writes this file. 
See /etc/adduser.conf for more details.
.It Sy message file
Eval variables in this file. See /etc/adduser.message for more
details.
.El

.Sh EXAMPLES
.Pp
$ adduser
.Pp
Start adduser in interactive mode.

.Pp
$ adduser -batch baerenklau guest,staff,baer 'Teddy II' qwerty7
.Pp
Create user 'baerenklau' and  login group 'baerenklau'. Invite user 
baerenklau into groups guest, staff and baer. Realname (fullname) 
is 'Teddy II'. Password is 'qwerty7' (don't use such password!). Create
HOME directory '/home/baerenklau' and copy all files and directories 
from /usr/share/skel to /home/baerenklau. Send user baerenklau 
a welcome message.

.Pp
$ adduser -uid 5000 -group guest -message no -batch vehlefanz
.Pp
Create user 'vehlefanz'. Login group is guest. Uid is up to
5000, for instance 5007. No other groups, no realname, no password.
Do not send a welcome message.

.Sh FILES
.Bl -tag -width /etc/master.passwdxx -compact
.It Pa /etc/master.passwd
user database
.It Pa /etc/group
group database
.It Pa /etc/shells
shell database
.It Pa /etc/adduser.conf
config file for adduser
.It Pa /etc/adduser.message
message file for adduser
.It Pa /usr/share/skel
skeletal login directory
.It Pa /var/log/adduser
logfile for adduser
.El

.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr chpass 1 ,
.Xr finger 1 ,
.Xr passwd 1 ,
.Xr setlogin 2 ,
.Xr yp 4 ,
.Xr aliases 5 ,
.Xr passwd 5 ,
.Xr group 5 ,
.Xr shells 5 ,
.Xr addgroup 8 ,
.Xr pwd_mkdb 8 ,
.Xr rmgroup 8 ,
.Xr rmuser 8 ,
.Xr vipw 8

.\" .Sh BUGS

.Sh HISTORY
The
.Nm
command appeared in
.Fx 2.1 .