2 .\" David L. Nugent. All rights reserved.
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25 .\" $FreeBSD: src/usr.sbin/pw/pw.8,v 1.19.2.12 2003/05/08 15:01:44 trhodes Exp $
26 .\" $DragonFly: src/usr.sbin/pw/pw.8,v 1.5 2008/05/02 02:05:08 swildner Exp $
33 .Nd create, remove, modify & display system users and groups
72 .Op Fl u Ar min , Ns Ar max
73 .Op Fl i Ar min , Ns Ar max
155 .Op Fl m Ar newmembers
189 utility is a command-line based editor for the system
193 files, allowing the superuser an easy to use and standardized way of adding,
194 modifying and removing users and groups.
197 only operates on the local user and group files.
199 users and groups must be
205 utility handles updating the
209 and the secure and insecure
210 password database files, and must be run as root.
212 The first one or two keywords provided to
214 on the command line provide the context for the remainder of the arguments.
233 all mean the same thing.)
234 This flexibility is useful for interactive scripts calling
236 for user and group database manipulation.
237 Following these keywords, you may optionally specify the user or group name or numeric
238 id as an alternative to using the
244 The following flags are common to most or all modes of operation:
245 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
247 This flag sets an alternate location for the password, group and configuration files,
248 and may be used to maintain a user/group database in an alternate location.
249 If this switch is specified, the system
251 will not be sourced for default configuration data, but the file pw.conf in the
252 specified directory will be used instead (or none, if it does not exist).
255 flag may be used to override this behaviour.
256 As an exception to the general rule where options must follow the operation
259 flag may be used on the command line before the operation keyword.
265 to obtain policy information on how new user accounts and groups are to be created.
268 option specifies a different configuration file.
269 While most of the contents of the configuration file may be overridden via
270 command-line options, it may be more convenient to keep standard information in a
273 Use of this option causes
275 to suppress error messages, which may be useful in interactive environments where it
276 is preferable to interpret status codes returned by
278 rather than messing up a carefully formatted display.
280 This option is available in
284 operations, and tells
286 to output the result of the operation without updating the user or group
290 option to switch between standard passwd and readable formats.
292 Using this option with any of the update modes causes
296 after changing to the directory
298 This is intended to allow automatic updating of
301 If separate passwd and group files are being used by
305 option to specify the location of the
307 passwd database so that
309 will concurrently update it with the system password
313 The following options apply to the
318 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
320 Specify the user/account name.
322 Specify the user/account numeric id.
324 Usually, you only need to provide one or the other of these options, as the account
325 name will imply the uid, or vice versa.
326 However, there are times when you need to provide both.
327 For example, when changing the uid of an existing user with
329 or overriding the default uid when creating a new account.
332 to automatically allocate the uid to a new user with
339 You may also provide either the account or userid immediately after the
345 keywords on the command line without using the
351 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
353 This field sets the contents of the passwd GECOS field, which normally contains up
354 to four comma-separated fields containing the user's full name, office or location,
355 and work and home phone numbers.
356 These sub-fields are used by convention only, however, and are optional.
357 If this field is to contain spaces, you need to quote the comment itself with double
360 Avoid using commas in this field as these are used as sub-field separators, and the
363 character also cannot be used as this is the field separator for the passwd
366 This option sets the account's home directory.
367 Normally, you will only use this if the home directory is to be different from the
368 default determined from
372 with the account name as a subdirectory.
374 Set the account's expiration date.
375 Format of the date is either a
377 time in decimal, or a date in
379 format, where dd is the day, mmm is the month, either in numeric or alphabetic format
380 ('Jan', 'Feb', etc) and year is either a two or four digit year.
381 This option also accepts a relative date in the form
385 is a decimal, octal (leading 0) or hexadecimal (leading 0x) digit followed by the
386 number of Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, Months or Years from the current date at
387 which the expiration date is to be set.
389 Set the account's password expiration date.
390 This field is similar to the account expiration date option, except that it
391 applies to forced password changes.
392 This is set in the same manner as the
396 Set the account's primary group to the given group.
398 may be defined by either its name or group number.
399 .It Fl G Ar grouplist
400 Set additional group memberships for an account.
402 is a comma-separated list of group names or group numbers.
403 The user's name is added to the group lists in
406 removed from any groups not specified in
408 Note: a user should not be added to their primary group with
410 Also, group membership changes do not take effect for current user login
411 sessions, requiring the user to reconnect to be affected by the changes.
413 This option sets the login class for the user being created.
418 for more information on user login classes.
420 This option instructs
422 to attempt to create the user's home directory.
423 While primarily useful when adding a new account with
425 this may also be of use when moving an existing user's home directory elsewhere on
427 The new home directory is populated with the contents of the
429 directory, which typically contains a set of shell configuration files that the
430 user may personalize to taste.
433 is used on an account with
435 existing configuration files in the user's home directory are
437 overwritten from the skeleton files.
439 When a user's home directory is created, it will by default be a subdirectory of the
441 directory as specified by the
443 option (see below), bearing the name of the new account.
444 This can be overridden by the
446 option on the command line, if desired.
450 directory, from which basic startup and configuration files are copied when
451 the user's home directory is created.
452 This option only has meaning when used with the
458 Set or changes the user's login shell to
460 If the path to the shell program is omitted,
466 and fills it in as appropriate.
467 Note that unless you have a specific reason to do so, you should avoid
468 specifying the path - this will allow
470 to validate that the program exists and is executable.
471 Specifying a full path (or supplying a blank "" shell) avoids this check
472 and allows for such entries as
474 that should be set for accounts not intended for interactive login.
476 This option provides a special interface by which interactive scripts can
477 set an account password using
479 Because the command line and environment are fundamentally insecure mechanisms
480 by which programs can accept information,
482 will only allow setting of account and group passwords via a file descriptor
483 (usually a pipe between an interactive script and the program).
489 all possess mechanisms by which this can be done.
492 will prompt for the user's password if
496 as the file descriptor on which to read the password.
497 Note that this password will be read only once and is intended
498 for use by a script rather than for interactive use.
499 If you wish to have new password confirmation along the lines of
501 this must be implemented as part of an interactive script that calls
506 is given as the argument
508 then the password will be set to
510 rendering the account inaccessible via password-based login.
513 It is possible to use
515 to create a new account that duplicates an existing user id.
516 While this is normally considered an error and will be rejected, the
518 option overrides the check for duplicates and allows the duplication of
520 This may be useful if you allow the same user to login under
521 different contexts (different group allocations, different home
522 directory, different shell) while providing basically the same
523 permissions for access to the user's files in each account.
527 command also has the ability to set new user and group defaults by using the
530 Instead of adding a new user,
532 writes a new set of defaults to its configuration file,
536 option, you must not use either
540 or an error will result.
543 changes the meaning of several command line switches in the
547 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
549 Set default values in
551 configuration file, or a different named configuration file if the
555 Set the root directory in which user home directories are created.
556 The default value for this is
558 but it may be set elsewhere as desired.
560 Set the default account expiration period in days.
563 the argument must be numeric, which specifies the number of days after creation when
564 the account is to expire.
565 A value of 0 suppresses automatic calculation of the expiry date.
567 Set the default password expiration period in days.
569 Set the default group for new users.
570 If a blank group is specified using
572 then new users will be allocated their own private primary group
573 with the same name as their login name.
574 If a group is supplied, either its name or uid may be given as an argument.
575 .It Fl G Ar grouplist
576 Set the default groups in which new users are granted membership.
577 This is a separate set of groups from the primary group, and you should avoid
578 nominating the same group as both primary and extra groups.
579 In other words, these extra groups determine membership in groups
583 is a comma-separated list of group names or ids, and are always
586 by their symbolic names.
588 This option sets the default login class for new users.
592 directory, from which prototype shell and other initialization files are copied when
594 creates a user's home directory.
596 .Fl u Ar min , Ns Ar max ,
597 .Fl i Ar min , Ns Ar max
599 These options set the minimum and maximum user and group ids allocated for new accounts
600 and groups created by
602 The default values for each is 1000 minimum and 32000 maximum.
606 are both numbers, where max must be greater than min, and both must be between 0
608 In general, user and group ids less than 100 are reserved for use by the system,
609 and numbers greater than 32000 may also be reserved for special purposes (used by
610 some system daemons).
614 option sets the default method used to set passwords for newly created user accounts.
618 .Bl -tag -width random -offset indent -compact
620 disable login on newly created accounts
622 force the password to be the account name
624 force a blank password
626 generate a random password
633 methods are the most secure; in the former case,
635 generates a password and prints it to stdout, which is suitable where you issue
636 users with passwords to access their accounts rather than having the user nominate
637 their own (possibly poorly chosen) password.
640 method requires that the superuser use
642 to render the account accessible with a password.
644 This sets the pathname of the database used by
646 if you are not sharing
648 .Pa /etc/master.passwd
651 You should only set this option for
658 command has only three valid options.
663 options have already been covered above.
664 The additional option is:
665 .Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist"
669 to remove the user's home directory and all of its contents.
672 utility errs on the side of caution when removing files from the system.
673 Firstly, it will not do so if the uid of the account being removed is also used by
674 another account on the system, and the 'home' directory in the password file is
675 a valid path that commences with the character
677 Secondly, it will only remove files and directories that are actually owned by
678 the user, or symbolic links owned by anyone under the user's home directory.
679 Finally, after deleting all contents owned by the user only empty directories
681 If any additional cleanup work is required, this is left to the administrator.
684 Mail spool files and crontabs are always removed when an account is deleted as these
685 are unconditionally attached to the user name.
686 Jobs queued for processing by
688 are also removed if the user's uid is unique and not also used by another account on the
693 command allows viewing of an account in one of two formats.
694 By default, the format is identical to the format used in
695 .Pa /etc/master.passwd
696 with the password field replaced with a
702 outputs the account details in a more human readable form.
705 option is used, the account details are shown in v7 format.
708 option lists all users currently on file.
713 to print the details of an account even if it does not exist.
717 returns the next available user and group ids separated by a colon.
718 This is normally of interest only to interactive scripts or front-ends
726 options (explained at the start of the previous section) are available
727 with the group manipulation commands.
728 Other common options to all group-related commands are:
729 .Bl -tag -width "-m newmembers"
731 Specify the group name.
733 Specify the group numeric id.
735 As with the account name and id fields, you will usually only need
736 to supply one of these, as the group name implies the uid and vice
738 You will only need to use both when setting a specific group id
739 against a new group or when changing the uid of an existing group.
740 .It Fl M Ar memberlist
741 This option provides an alternative way to add existing users to a
742 new group (in groupadd) or replace an existing membership list (in
745 is a comma separated list of valid and existing user names or uids.
746 .It Fl m Ar newmembers
749 this option allows the
751 of existing users to a group without replacing the existing list of
753 Login names or user ids may be used, and duplicate users are
760 option that allows allocation of an existing group id to a new group.
761 The default action is to reject an attempt to add a group, and this option overrides
762 the check for duplicate group ids.
763 There is rarely any need to duplicate a group id.
767 command adds one additional option:
768 .Bl -tag -width "-m newmembers"
770 This option allows changing of an existing group name to
772 The new name must not already exist, and any attempt to duplicate an existing group
773 name will be rejected.
784 to specify the group id.
787 option does not apply to the
793 returns the next available group id on standard output.
798 supports a simple password locking mechanism for users; it works by
799 prepending the string
801 to the beginning of the password field in
803 to prevent successful authentication.
809 commands take a user name or uid of the account to lock or unlock,
815 options as described above are accepted by these commands.
817 .Bl -tag -width /etc/master.passwd.new -compact
818 .It Pa /etc/master.passwd
821 A Version 7 format password file
822 .It Pa /etc/login.conf
823 The user capabilities database
826 .It Pa /etc/master.passwd.new
827 Temporary copy of the master password file
828 .It Pa /etc/passwd.new
829 Temporary copy of the Version 7 password file
830 .It Pa /etc/group.new
831 Temporary copy of the group file
833 Pw default options file
834 .It Pa /var/log/userlog
835 User/group modification logfile
840 utility returns EXIT_SUCCESS on successful operation, otherwise
843 following exit codes defined by
850 Command line syntax errors (invalid keyword, unknown option).
855 Attempting to run one of the update modes as non-root.
860 Memory allocation error.
862 Read error from password file descriptor.
867 Bad or invalid data provided or missing on the command line or
868 via the password file descriptor.
870 Attempted to remove, rename root account or change its uid.
875 Skeleton directory is invalid or does not exist.
877 Base home directory is invalid or does not exist.
879 Invalid or non-existent shell specified.
884 User, user id, group or group id specified does not exist.
886 User or group recorded, added, or modified unexpectedly disappeared.
891 No more group or user ids available within specified range.
896 Unable to rewrite configuration file.
898 Error updating group or user database files.
900 Update error for passwd or group database files.
905 No base home directory configured.
909 For a summary of options available with each command, you can use
910 .Dl pw [command] help
913 lists all available options for the useradd operation.
917 utility allows 8-bit characters in the passwd GECOS field (user's full name,
918 office, work and home phone number subfields), but disallows them in
919 user login and group names.
920 Use 8-bit characters with caution, as connection to the Internet will
921 require that your mail transport program supports 8BITMIME, and will
922 convert headers containing 8-bit characters to 7-bit quoted-printable
926 Use of 8-bit characters in the GECOS field should be used in
927 conjunction with the user's default locale and character set
928 and should not be implemented without their use.
929 Using 8-bit characters may also affect other
930 programs that transmit the contents of the GECOS field over the
933 and a small number of TCP/IP clients, such as IRC, where full names
934 specified in the passwd file may be used by default.
938 utility writes a log to the
940 file when actions such as user or group additions or deletions occur.
941 The location of this logfile can be changed in
955 utility was written to mimic many of the options used in the SYSV
957 support suite, but is modified for passwd and group fields specific to
960 operating system, and combines all of the major elements
961 into a single command.
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