1*724b4bfdSDevin TeskeThese screens allow you to add groups and users to your system. 2*724b4bfdSDevin Teske 3*724b4bfdSDevin TeskeMany of the settings get reasonable defaults if you leave them blank. 4*724b4bfdSDevin TeskeThe first time you have entered the name of the new group or user, the 5*724b4bfdSDevin Teskesystem will show you what it would chose for most of these fields. 6*724b4bfdSDevin TeskeYou are free to change them, of course. 7*724b4bfdSDevin Teske 8*724b4bfdSDevin Teske 9*724b4bfdSDevin TeskeUser groups 10*724b4bfdSDevin Teske=========== 11*724b4bfdSDevin Teske 12*724b4bfdSDevin TeskeIt's certainly almost generally a good idea to first create a new 13*724b4bfdSDevin Teskegroup for your users. Common names for such a group are "users", or 14*724b4bfdSDevin Teskeeven simply "other". Group names are used to control file access 15*724b4bfdSDevin Teskepermissions for users that belong to the same group. Several group 16*724b4bfdSDevin Teskenames are already used for system files. 17*724b4bfdSDevin Teske 18*724b4bfdSDevin TeskeThe numerical user or group IDs are often nothing you want to care for 19*724b4bfdSDevin Teskeexplicitly. If you don't fill in these fields, the system will choose 20*724b4bfdSDevin Teskereasonable defaults. However, these numbers (rather than the 21*724b4bfdSDevin Teskeassociated names) are what the operating system actually uses to 22*724b4bfdSDevin Teskedistinguish users and groups -- hence they should normally be unique 23*724b4bfdSDevin Tesketo each person or group, respectively. 24*724b4bfdSDevin Teske 25*724b4bfdSDevin Teske 26*724b4bfdSDevin TeskeUsers 27*724b4bfdSDevin Teske===== 28*724b4bfdSDevin Teske 29*724b4bfdSDevin TeskeThe user's login ID is a short (up to 15 characters) alphanumeric ID 30*724b4bfdSDevin Teskethat the user must enter when logging into the system. It's often the 31*724b4bfdSDevin Teskeinitial letters of the user's name, and commonly used in lower case. 32*724b4bfdSDevin TeskeIt's also the local mail name for this user (though it's possible to 33*724b4bfdSDevin Teskealso set up more descriptive mail alias names later). 34*724b4bfdSDevin Teske 35*724b4bfdSDevin TeskeThe user's login group determines which group access rights the user 36*724b4bfdSDevin Teskewill initially get when logging in. If an additional list of groups is 37*724b4bfdSDevin Teskeprovided which the user will become a member of, (s)he will also be 38*724b4bfdSDevin Teskeable to access files of those groups later without providing any 39*724b4bfdSDevin Teskeadditional password etc. Except for the "wheel" case mentioned below, 40*724b4bfdSDevin Teskethe additional group membership list should normally not contain the 41*724b4bfdSDevin Teskelogin group again. 42*724b4bfdSDevin Teske 43*724b4bfdSDevin TeskeThe user's password can also be set here, and should be chosen with 44*724b4bfdSDevin Teskecare - 6 or more characters, intermixing punctuation and numerics, and 45*724b4bfdSDevin Teske*not* a word from the dictionary or related to the username is a good 46*724b4bfdSDevin Teskepassword choice. 47*724b4bfdSDevin Teske 48*724b4bfdSDevin TeskeSome of the system's groups have a special meaning. In particular, 49*724b4bfdSDevin Teskemembers of group "wheel" are the only people who are later allowed to 50*724b4bfdSDevin Teskebecome superuser using the command su(1). So if you're going to add a 51*724b4bfdSDevin Teskenew user who should later perform administrative tasks, don't forget 52*724b4bfdSDevin Tesketo add him to this group! (Well, ``he'' will most likely be yourself 53*724b4bfdSDevin Teskein the very first place. :) 54*724b4bfdSDevin Teske 55*724b4bfdSDevin TeskeAlso, members of group "operator" will by default get permissions for 56*724b4bfdSDevin Teskeminor administrative operations, like performing system backups, or 57*724b4bfdSDevin Teskeshutting down the system -- without first becoming superuser! So, 58*724b4bfdSDevin Tesketake care when adding people to this group. 59*724b4bfdSDevin Teske 60*724b4bfdSDevin TeskeThe ``full name'' field serves as a comment only. It is also used by 61*724b4bfdSDevin Teskemail front ends to determine the real name of the user, hence you 62*724b4bfdSDevin Teskeshould actually fill in the first and last name of this user. By 63*724b4bfdSDevin Teskeconvention, this field can be divided into comma-separated subfields, 64*724b4bfdSDevin Teskewhere the office location, the work phone number, and the home phone 65*724b4bfdSDevin Teskenumber follow the full name of the user. 66*724b4bfdSDevin Teske 67*724b4bfdSDevin TeskeThe home directory is the directory in the filesystem where the user 68*724b4bfdSDevin Teskeis being logged into, and where his personalized setup files (``dot 69*724b4bfdSDevin Teskefiles'', since they usually begin with a `.' and are not displayed by 70*724b4bfdSDevin Teskethe ls(1) command by default) will be looked up. It is often created 71*724b4bfdSDevin Teskeunder /usr/home/ or /home/. 72*724b4bfdSDevin Teske 73*724b4bfdSDevin TeskeFinally, the shell is the user's initial command interpreter. The 74*724b4bfdSDevin Teskedefault shell is /bin/sh, some users prefer the more historic 75*724b4bfdSDevin Teske/bin/csh. Other, often more user-friendly and comfortable shells can 76*724b4bfdSDevin Teskebe found in the ports and packages collection. 77