xref: /freebsd/usr.sbin/adduser/adduser.8 (revision d07e672294c9faa2b1a3421774c164eb64600379)
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3.\" Copyright (c) 2002-2004 Michael Telahun Makonnen <mtm@FreeBSD.org>
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27.\" $FreeBSD$
28.\"
29.Dd March 30, 2004
30.Dt ADDUSER 8
31.Os
32.Sh NAME
33.Nm adduser
34.Nd command for adding new users
35.Sh SYNOPSIS
36.Nm
37.Op Fl CDENShq
38.Op Fl G Ar groups
39.Op Fl L Ar login_class
40.Op Fl d Ar partition
41.Op Fl f Ar file
42.Op Fl g Ar login_group
43.Op Fl k Ar dotdir
44.Op Fl m Ar message_file
45.Op Fl s Ar shell
46.Op Fl u Ar uid_start
47.Op Fl w Ar type
48.Sh DESCRIPTION
49The
50.Nm
51utility is a shell script, implemented around the
52.Xr pw 8
53command, for adding new users.
54It creates passwd/group entries, a home directory,
55copies dotfiles and sends the new user a welcome message.
56It supports two modes of operation.
57It may be used interactively
58at the command line to add one user at a time, or it may be directed
59to get the list of new users from a file and operate in batch mode
60without requiring any user interaction.
61.Sh RESTRICTIONS
62.Bl -tag -width indent
63.It username
64Login name.
65The user name is restricted to whatever
66.Xr pw 8
67will accept.
68Generally this means it
69may contain only lowercase characters or digits.
70Maximum length
71is 16 characters.
72The reasons for this limit are historical.
73Given that people have traditionally wanted to break this
74limit for aesthetic reasons, it has never been of great importance to break
75such a basic fundamental parameter in
76.Ux .
77You can change
78.Dv UT_NAMESIZE
79in
80.In utmp.h
81and recompile the
82world; people have done this and it works, but you will have problems
83with any precompiled programs, or source that assumes the 8-character
84name limit and NIS.
85The NIS protocol mandates an 8-character username.
86If you need a longer login name for e-mail addresses,
87you can define an alias in
88.Pa /etc/mail/aliases .
89.It "full name"
90This is typically known as the gecos field and usually contains
91the user's full name.
92Additionally, it may contain a comma separated
93list of values such as office number and work and home phones.
94If the
95name contains an ampersand it will be replaced by the capitalized
96login name when displayed by other programs.
97The
98.Ql \&:
99character is not allowed.
100.It shell
101Only valid shells from the shell database
102.Pq Pa /etc/shells
103are allowed.
104In
105addition, only the base name of the shell is necessary, not the full path.
106.It UID
107Automatically generated or your choice.
108It must be less than 32000.
109.It "GID/login group"
110Automatically generated or your choice.
111It must be less than 32000.
112.It password
113You may choose an empty password, disable the password, use a
114randomly generated password or specify your own plaintext password,
115which will be encrypted before being stored in the user database.
116.El
117.Sh UNIQUE GROUPS
118Perhaps you are missing what
119.Em can
120be done with this scheme that falls apart
121with most other schemes.
122With each user in their own group,
123they can safely run with a umask of 002 instead of the usual 022
124and create files in their home directory
125without worrying about others being able to change them.
126.Pp
127For a shared area you create a separate UID/GID (like cvs or ncvs on freefall),
128you place each person that should be able to access this area into that new
129group.
130.Pp
131This model of UID/GID administration allows far greater flexibility than lumping
132users into groups and having to muck with the umask when working in a shared
133area.
134.Pp
135I have been using this model for almost 10 years and found that it works
136for most situations, and has never gotten in the way.
137(Rod Grimes)
138.Sh CONFIGURATION
139The
140.Nm
141utility reads its configuration information from
142.Pa /etc/adduser.conf .
143If this file does not exist, it will use predefined defaults.
144While this file may be edited by hand,
145the safer option is to use the
146.Fl C
147command line argument.
148With this argument,
149.Nm
150will start interactive input, save the answers to its prompts in
151.Pa /etc/adduser.conf ,
152and promptly exit without modifying the user
153database.
154Options specified on the command line will take precedence over
155any values saved in this file.
156.Sh OPTIONS
157.Bl -tag -width indent
158.It Fl C
159Create new configuration file and exit.
160This option is mutually exclusive with the
161.Fl f
162option.
163.It Fl d Ar partition
164Home partition.
165Default partition, under which all user directories
166will be located.
167The
168.Pa /nonexistent
169partition is considered special.
170The
171.Nm
172script will not create and populate a home directory by that name.
173Otherwise,
174by default it attempts to create a home directory.
175.It Fl D
176Do not attempt to create the home directory.
177.It Fl E
178Disable the account.
179This option will lock the account by prepending the string
180.Dq Li *LOCKED*
181to the password field.
182The account may be unlocked
183by the super-user with the
184.Xr pw 8
185command:
186.Pp
187.D1 Nm pw Cm unlock Op Ar name | uid
188.It Fl f Ar file
189Get the list of accounts to create from
190.Ar file .
191If
192.Ar file
193is
194.Dq Fl ,
195then get the list from standard input.
196If this option is specified,
197.Nm
198will operate in batch mode and will not seek any user input.
199If an error is encountered while processing an account, it will write a
200message to standard error and move to the next account.
201The format
202of the input file is described below.
203.It Fl g Ar login_group
204Normaly,
205if no login group is specified,
206it is assumed to be the same as the username.
207This option makes
208.Ar login_group
209the default.
210.It Fl G Ar groups
211Additional groups.
212This option allows the user to specify additional groups to add users to.
213The user is a member of these groups in addition to their login group.
214.It Fl h
215Print a summary of options and exit.
216.It Fl k Ar directory
217Copy files from
218.Ar directory
219into the home
220directory of new users;
221.Pa dot.foo
222will be renamed to
223.Pa .foo .
224.It Fl L Ar login_class
225Set default login class.
226.It Fl m Ar file
227Send new users a welcome message from
228.Ar file .
229Specifying a value of
230.Cm no
231for
232.Ar file
233causes no message to be sent to new users.
234Please note that the message
235file can reference the internal variables of the
236.Nm
237script.
238.It Fl N
239Do not read the default configuration file.
240.It Fl q
241Minimal user feedback.
242In particular, the random password will not be echoed to
243standard output.
244.It Fl s Ar shell
245Default shell for new users.
246The
247.Ar shell
248argument must be the base name of the shell,
249.Em not
250the full path.
251It must exist in
252.Pa /etc/shells
253or be the special shell
254.Em nologin
255to be considered a valid shell.
256.It Fl S
257The existence or validity of the specified shell will not be checked.
258.It Fl u Ar uid
259Use UIDs from
260.Ar uid
261on up.
262.It Fl w Ar type
263Password type.
264The
265.Nm
266utility allows the user to specify what type of password to create.
267The
268.Ar type
269argument may have one of the following values:
270.Bl -tag -width ".Cm random"
271.It Cm no
272Disable the password.
273Instead of an encrypted string, the password field will contain a single
274.Ql *
275character.
276The user may not log in until the super-user
277manually enables the password.
278.It Cm none
279Use an empty string as the password.
280.It Cm yes
281Use a user-supplied string as the password.
282In interactive mode,
283the user will be prompted for the password.
284In batch mode, the
285last (10th) field in the line is assumed to be the password.
286.It Cm random
287Generate a random string and use it as a password.
288The password will be echoed to standard output.
289In addition, it will be available for inclusion in the message file in the
290.Va randompass
291variable.
292.El
293.El
294.Sh FORMAT
295When the
296.Fl f
297option is used, the account information must be stored in a specific
298format.
299All empty lines or lines beginning with a
300.Ql #
301will be ignored.
302All other lines must contain ten colon
303.Pq Ql \&:
304separated fields as described below.
305Command line options do not take precedence
306over values in the fields.
307Only the password field may contain a
308.Ql \&:
309character as part of the string.
310.Pp
311.Sm off
312.D1 Ar name : uid : gid : class : change : expire : gecos : home_dir : shell : password
313.Sm on
314.Bl -tag -width ".Ar password"
315.It Ar name
316Login name.
317This field may not be empty.
318.It Ar uid
319Numeric login user ID.
320If this field is left empty, it will be automatically generated.
321.It Ar gid
322Numeric primary group ID.
323If this field is left empty, a group with the
324same name as the user name will be created and its GID will be used
325instead.
326.It Ar class
327Login class.
328This field may be left empty.
329.It Ar change
330Password ageing.
331This field denotes the password change date for the account.
332The format of this field is the same as the format of the
333.Fl p
334argument to
335.Xr pw 8 .
336It may be
337.Ar dd Ns - Ns Ar mmm Ns - Ns Ar yy Ns Op Ar yy ,
338where
339.Ar dd
340is for the day,
341.Ar mmm
342is for the month in numeric or alphabetical format:
343.Dq Li 10
344or
345.Dq Li Oct ,
346and
347.Ar yy Ns Op Ar yy
348is the four or two digit year.
349To denote a time relative to the current date the format is:
350.No + Ns Ar n Ns Op Ar mhdwoy ,
351where
352.Ar n
353denotes a number, followed by the minutes, hours, days, weeks,
354months or years after which the password must be changed.
355This field may be left empty to turn it off.
356.It Ar expire
357Account expiration.
358This field denotes the expiry date of the account.
359The account may not be used after the specified date.
360The format of this field is the same as that for password ageing.
361This field may be left empty to turn it off.
362.It Ar gecos
363Full name and other extra information about the user.
364.It Ar home_dir
365Home directory.
366If this field is left empty, it will be automatically
367created by appending the username to the home partition.
368The
369.Pa /nonexistent
370home directory is considered special and
371is understood to mean that no home directory is to be
372created for the user.
373.It Ar shell
374Login shell.
375This field should contain the full path to a valid login shell.
376.It Ar password
377User password.
378This field should contain a plaintext string, which will
379be encrypted before being placed in the user database.
380If the password type is
381.Cm yes
382and this field is empty, it is assumed the account will have an empty password.
383If the password type is
384.Cm random
385and this field is
386.Em not
387empty, its contents will be used
388as a password.
389This field will be ignored if the
390.Fl p
391option is used with a
392.Cm no
393or
394.Cm none
395argument.
396Be careful not to terminate this field with a closing
397.Ql \&:
398because it will be treated as part of the password.
399.El
400.Sh FILES
401.Bl -tag -width ".Pa /etc/adduser.message" -compact
402.It Pa /etc/master.passwd
403user database
404.It Pa /etc/group
405group database
406.It Pa /etc/shells
407shell database
408.It Pa /etc/login.conf
409login classes database
410.It Pa /etc/adduser.conf
411configuration file for
412.Nm
413.It Pa /etc/adduser.message
414message file for
415.Nm
416.It Pa /usr/share/skel
417skeletal login directory
418.It Pa /var/log/adduser
419logfile for
420.Nm
421.El
422.Sh SEE ALSO
423.Xr chpass 1 ,
424.Xr passwd 1 ,
425.Xr adduser.conf 5 ,
426.Xr aliases 5 ,
427.Xr group 5 ,
428.Xr login.conf 5 ,
429.Xr passwd 5 ,
430.Xr shells 5 ,
431.Xr pw 8 ,
432.Xr pwd_mkdb 8 ,
433.Xr rmuser 8 ,
434.Xr vipw 8 ,
435.Xr yp 8
436.Sh HISTORY
437The
438.Nm
439command appeared in
440.Fx 2.1 .
441.Sh AUTHORS
442.An -nosplit
443This manual page and the original script, in Perl, was written by
444.An Wolfram Schneider Aq wosch@FreeBSD.org .
445The replacement script, written as a Bourne
446shell script with some enhancements, and the man page modification that
447came with it were done by
448.An Mike Makonnen Aq mtm@identd.net .
449.Sh BUGS
450In order for
451.Nm
452to correctly expand variables such as
453.Va $username
454and
455.Va $randompass
456in the message sent to new users, it must let the shell evaluate
457each line of the message file.
458This means that shell commands can also be embedded in the message file.
459The
460.Nm
461utility attempts to mitigate the possibility of an attacker using this
462feature by refusing to evaluate the file if it is not owned and writeable
463only by the root user.
464In addition, shell special characters and operators will have to be
465escaped when used in the message file.
466.Pp
467Also, password ageing and account expiry times are currently setable
468only in batch mode or when specified in
469.Pa /etc/adduser.conf .
470The user should be able to set them in interactive mode as well.
471