1.\" Copyright (C) 1996 2.\" David L. Nugent. All rights reserved. 3.\" 4.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 5.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 6.\" are met: 7.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 8.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 9.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 10.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 11.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 12.\" 13.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY DAVID L. NUGENT AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 14.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 15.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 16.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL DAVID L. NUGENT OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 17.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 18.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 19.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 20.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 21.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 22.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 23.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 24.\" 25.\" $FreeBSD$ 26.\" 27.Dd October 29, 2012 28.Dt PW 8 29.Os 30.Sh NAME 31.Nm pw 32.Nd create, remove, modify & display system users and groups 33.Sh SYNOPSIS 34.Nm 35.Op Fl V Ar etcdir 36.Ar useradd 37.Op name|uid 38.Op Fl C Ar config 39.Op Fl q 40.Op Fl n Ar name 41.Op Fl u Ar uid 42.Op Fl c Ar comment 43.Op Fl d Ar dir 44.Op Fl e Ar date 45.Op Fl p Ar date 46.Op Fl g Ar group 47.Op Fl G Ar grouplist 48.Op Fl m 49.Op Fl M Ar mode 50.Op Fl k Ar dir 51.Op Fl w Ar method 52.Op Fl s Ar shell 53.Op Fl o 54.Op Fl L Ar class 55.Op Fl h Ar fd | Fl H Ar fd 56.Op Fl N 57.Op Fl P 58.Op Fl Y 59.Nm 60.Op Fl V Ar etcdir 61.Ar useradd 62.Op name|uid 63.Fl D 64.Op Fl C Ar config 65.Op Fl q 66.Op Fl b Ar dir 67.Op Fl e Ar days 68.Op Fl p Ar days 69.Op Fl g Ar group 70.Op Fl G Ar grouplist 71.Op Fl k Ar dir 72.Op Fl M Ar mode 73.Op Fl u Ar min , Ns Ar max 74.Op Fl i Ar min , Ns Ar max 75.Op Fl w Ar method 76.Op Fl s Ar shell 77.Op Fl y Ar path 78.Nm 79.Op Fl V Ar etcdir 80.Ar userdel 81.Op name|uid 82.Op Fl n Ar name 83.Op Fl u Ar uid 84.Op Fl r 85.Op Fl Y 86.Nm 87.Op Fl V Ar etcdir 88.Ar usermod 89.Op name|uid 90.Op Fl C Ar config 91.Op Fl q 92.Op Fl n Ar name 93.Op Fl u Ar uid 94.Op Fl c Ar comment 95.Op Fl d Ar dir 96.Op Fl e Ar date 97.Op Fl p Ar date 98.Op Fl g Ar group 99.Op Fl G Ar grouplist 100.Op Fl l Ar name 101.Op Fl m 102.Op Fl M Ar mode 103.Op Fl k Ar dir 104.Op Fl w Ar method 105.Op Fl s Ar shell 106.Op Fl L Ar class 107.Op Fl h Ar fd | Fl H Ar fd 108.Op Fl N 109.Op Fl P 110.Op Fl Y 111.Nm 112.Op Fl V Ar etcdir 113.Ar usershow 114.Op name|uid 115.Op Fl n Ar name 116.Op Fl u Ar uid 117.Op Fl F 118.Op Fl P 119.Op Fl 7 120.Op Fl a 121.Nm 122.Op Fl V Ar etcdir 123.Ar usernext 124.Op Fl C Ar config 125.Op Fl q 126.Nm 127.Op Fl V Ar etcdir 128.Ar groupadd 129.Op group|gid 130.Op Fl C Ar config 131.Op Fl q 132.Op Fl n Ar group 133.Op Fl g Ar gid 134.Op Fl M Ar members 135.Op Fl o 136.Op Fl h Ar fd | Fl H Ar fd 137.Op Fl N 138.Op Fl P 139.Op Fl Y 140.Nm 141.Op Fl V Ar etcdir 142.Ar groupdel 143.Op group|gid 144.Op Fl n Ar name 145.Op Fl g Ar gid 146.Op Fl Y 147.Nm 148.Op Fl V Ar etcdir 149.Ar groupmod 150.Op group|gid 151.Op Fl C Ar config 152.Op Fl q 153.Op Fl n Ar name 154.Op Fl g Ar gid 155.Op Fl l Ar name 156.Op Fl M Ar members 157.Op Fl m Ar newmembers 158.Op Fl d Ar oldmembers 159.Op Fl h Ar fd | Fl H Ar fd 160.Op Fl N 161.Op Fl P 162.Op Fl Y 163.Nm 164.Op Fl V Ar etcdir 165.Ar groupshow 166.Op group|gid 167.Op Fl n Ar name 168.Op Fl g Ar gid 169.Op Fl F 170.Op Fl P 171.Op Fl a 172.Nm 173.Op Fl V Ar etcdir 174.Ar groupnext 175.Op Fl C Ar config 176.Op Fl q 177.Nm 178.Op Fl V Ar etcdir 179.Ar lock 180.Op name|uid 181.Op Fl C Ar config 182.Op Fl q 183.Nm 184.Op Fl V Ar etcdir 185.Ar unlock 186.Op name|uid 187.Op Fl C Ar config 188.Op Fl q 189.Sh DESCRIPTION 190The 191.Nm 192utility is a command-line based editor for the system 193.Ar user 194and 195.Ar group 196files, allowing the superuser an easy to use and standardized way of adding, 197modifying and removing users and groups. 198Note that 199.Nm 200only operates on the local user and group files. 201.Tn NIS 202users and groups must be 203maintained on the 204.Tn NIS 205server. 206The 207.Nm 208utility handles updating the 209.Pa passwd , 210.Pa master.passwd , 211.Pa group 212and the secure and insecure 213password database files, and must be run as root. 214.Pp 215The first one or two keywords provided to 216.Nm 217on the command line provide the context for the remainder of the arguments. 218The keywords 219.Ar user 220and 221.Ar group 222may be combined with 223.Ar add , 224.Ar del , 225.Ar mod , 226.Ar show , 227or 228.Ar next 229in any order. 230(For example, 231.Ar showuser , 232.Ar usershow , 233.Ar show user , 234and 235.Ar user show 236all mean the same thing.) 237This flexibility is useful for interactive scripts calling 238.Nm 239for user and group database manipulation. 240Following these keywords, you may optionally specify the user or group name or numeric 241id as an alternative to using the 242.Fl n Ar name , 243.Fl u Ar uid , 244.Fl g Ar gid 245options. 246.Pp 247The following flags are common to most or all modes of operation: 248.Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist" 249.It Fl V Ar etcdir 250This flag sets an alternate location for the password, group and configuration files, 251and may be used to maintain a user/group database in an alternate location. 252If this switch is specified, the system 253.Pa /etc/pw.conf 254will not be sourced for default configuration data, but the file pw.conf in the 255specified directory will be used instead (or none, if it does not exist). 256The 257.Fl C 258flag may be used to override this behaviour. 259As an exception to the general rule where options must follow the operation 260type, the 261.Fl V 262flag may be used on the command line before the operation keyword. 263.It Fl C Ar config 264By default, 265.Nm 266reads the file 267.Pa /etc/pw.conf 268to obtain policy information on how new user accounts and groups are to be created. 269The 270.Fl C 271option specifies a different configuration file. 272While most of the contents of the configuration file may be overridden via 273command-line options, it may be more convenient to keep standard information in a 274configuration file. 275.It Fl q 276Use of this option causes 277.Nm 278to suppress error messages, which may be useful in interactive environments where it 279is preferable to interpret status codes returned by 280.Nm 281rather than messing up a carefully formatted display. 282.It Fl N 283This option is available in 284.Ar add 285and 286.Ar modify 287operations, and tells 288.Nm 289to output the result of the operation without updating the user or group 290databases. 291You may use the 292.Fl P 293option to switch between standard passwd and readable formats. 294.It Fl Y 295Using this option with any of the update modes causes 296.Nm 297to run 298.Xr make 1 299after changing to the directory 300.Pa /var/yp . 301This is intended to allow automatic updating of 302.Tn NIS 303database files. 304If separate passwd and group files are being used by 305.Tn NIS , 306then use the 307.Fl y Ar path 308option to specify the location of the 309.Tn NIS 310passwd database so that 311.Nm 312will concurrently update it with the system password 313databases. 314.El 315.Sh USER OPTIONS 316The following options apply to the 317.Ar useradd 318and 319.Ar usermod 320commands: 321.Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist" 322.It Fl n Ar name 323Specify the user/account name. 324.It Fl u Ar uid 325Specify the user/account numeric id. 326.Pp 327Usually, you only need to provide one or the other of these options, as the account 328name will imply the uid, or vice versa. 329However, there are times when you need to provide both. 330For example, when changing the uid of an existing user with 331.Ar usermod , 332or overriding the default uid when creating a new account. 333If you wish 334.Nm 335to automatically allocate the uid to a new user with 336.Ar useradd , 337then you should 338.Em not 339use the 340.Fl u 341option. 342You may also provide either the account or userid immediately after the 343.Ar useradd , 344.Ar userdel , 345.Ar usermod 346or 347.Ar usershow 348keywords on the command line without using the 349.Fl n 350or 351.Fl u 352options. 353.El 354.Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist" 355.It Fl c Ar comment 356This field sets the contents of the passwd GECOS field, which normally contains up 357to four comma-separated fields containing the user's full name, office or location, 358and work and home phone numbers. 359These sub-fields are used by convention only, however, and are optional. 360If this field is to contain spaces, you need to quote the comment itself with double 361quotes 362.Ql \&" . 363Avoid using commas in this field as these are used as sub-field separators, and the 364colon 365.Ql \&: 366character also cannot be used as this is the field separator for the passwd 367file itself. 368.It Fl d Ar dir 369This option sets the account's home directory. 370Normally, you will only use this if the home directory is to be different from the 371default determined from 372.Pa /etc/pw.conf 373- normally 374.Pa /home 375with the account name as a subdirectory. 376.It Fl e Ar date 377Set the account's expiration date. 378Format of the date is either a UNIX time in decimal, or a date in 379.Ql dd-mmm-yy[yy] 380format, where dd is the day, mmm is the month, either in numeric or alphabetic format 381('Jan', 'Feb', etc) and year is either a two or four digit year. 382This option also accepts a relative date in the form 383.Ql \&+n[mhdwoy] 384where 385.Ql \&n 386is a decimal, octal (leading 0) or hexadecimal (leading 0x) digit followed by the 387number of Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, Months or Years from the current date at 388which the expiration date is to be set. 389.It Fl p Ar date 390Set the account's password expiration date. 391This field is similar to the account expiration date option, except that it 392applies to forced password changes. 393This is set in the same manner as the 394.Fl e 395option. 396.It Fl g Ar group 397Set the account's primary group to the given group. 398.Ar group 399may be defined by either its name or group number. 400.It Fl G Ar grouplist 401Set additional group memberships for an account. 402.Ar grouplist 403is a comma, space or tab-separated list of group names or group numbers. 404The user's name is added to the group lists in 405.Pa /etc/group , 406and 407removed from any groups not specified in 408.Ar grouplist . 409Note: a user should not be added to their primary group with 410.Ar grouplist . 411Also, group membership changes do not take effect for current user login 412sessions, requiring the user to reconnect to be affected by the changes. 413.It Fl L Ar class 414This option sets the login class for the user being created. 415See 416.Xr login.conf 5 417and 418.Xr passwd 5 419for more information on user login classes. 420.It Fl m 421This option instructs 422.Nm 423to attempt to create the user's home directory. 424While primarily useful when adding a new account with 425.Ar useradd , 426this may also be of use when moving an existing user's home directory elsewhere on 427the file system. 428The new home directory is populated with the contents of the 429.Ar skeleton 430directory, which typically contains a set of shell configuration files that the 431user may personalize to taste. 432Files in this directory are usually named 433.Pa dot . Ns Aq Ar config 434where the 435.Pa dot 436prefix will be stripped. 437When 438.Fl m 439is used on an account with 440.Ar usermod , 441existing configuration files in the user's home directory are 442.Em not 443overwritten from the skeleton files. 444.Pp 445When a user's home directory is created, it will by default be a subdirectory of the 446.Ar basehome 447directory as specified by the 448.Fl b 449option (see below), bearing the name of the new account. 450This can be overridden by the 451.Fl d 452option on the command line, if desired. 453.It Fl M Ar mode 454Create the user's home directory with the specified 455.Ar mode , 456modified by the current 457.Xr umask 2 . 458If omitted, it is derived from the parent process' 459.Xr umask 2 . 460This option is only useful in combination with the 461.Fl m 462flag. 463.It Fl k Ar dir 464Set the 465.Ar skeleton 466directory, from which basic startup and configuration files are copied when 467the user's home directory is created. 468This option only has meaning when used with the 469.Fl d 470or 471.Fl m 472flags. 473.It Fl s Ar shell 474Set or changes the user's login shell to 475.Ar shell . 476If the path to the shell program is omitted, 477.Nm 478searches the 479.Ar shellpath 480specified in 481.Pa /etc/pw.conf 482and fills it in as appropriate. 483Note that unless you have a specific reason to do so, you should avoid 484specifying the path - this will allow 485.Nm 486to validate that the program exists and is executable. 487Specifying a full path (or supplying a blank "" shell) avoids this check 488and allows for such entries as 489.Pa /nonexistent 490that should be set for accounts not intended for interactive login. 491.It Fl h Ar fd 492This option provides a special interface by which interactive scripts can 493set an account password using 494.Nm . 495Because the command line and environment are fundamentally insecure mechanisms 496by which programs can accept information, 497.Nm 498will only allow setting of account and group passwords via a file descriptor 499(usually a pipe between an interactive script and the program). 500.Ar sh , 501.Ar bash , 502.Ar ksh 503and 504.Ar perl 505all possess mechanisms by which this can be done. 506Alternatively, 507.Nm 508will prompt for the user's password if 509.Fl h Ar 0 510is given, nominating 511.Em stdin 512as the file descriptor on which to read the password. 513Note that this password will be read only once and is intended 514for use by a script rather than for interactive use. 515If you wish to have new password confirmation along the lines of 516.Xr passwd 1 , 517this must be implemented as part of an interactive script that calls 518.Nm . 519.Pp 520If a value of 521.Ql \&- 522is given as the argument 523.Ar fd , 524then the password will be set to 525.Ql \&* , 526rendering the account inaccessible via password-based login. 527.It Fl H Ar fd 528Read an encrypted password string from the specified file descriptor. 529This is like 530.Fl h , 531but the password should be supplied already encrypted in a form 532suitable for writing directly to the password database. 533.El 534.Pp 535It is possible to use 536.Ar useradd 537to create a new account that duplicates an existing user id. 538While this is normally considered an error and will be rejected, the 539.Fl o 540option overrides the check for duplicates and allows the duplication of 541the user id. 542This may be useful if you allow the same user to login under 543different contexts (different group allocations, different home 544directory, different shell) while providing basically the same 545permissions for access to the user's files in each account. 546.Pp 547The 548.Ar useradd 549command also has the ability to set new user and group defaults by using the 550.Fl D 551option. 552Instead of adding a new user, 553.Nm 554writes a new set of defaults to its configuration file, 555.Pa /etc/pw.conf . 556When using the 557.Fl D 558option, you must not use either 559.Fl n Ar name 560or 561.Fl u Ar uid 562or an error will result. 563Use of 564.Fl D 565changes the meaning of several command line switches in the 566.Ar useradd 567command. 568These are: 569.Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist" 570.It Fl D 571Set default values in 572.Pa /etc/pw.conf 573configuration file, or a different named configuration file if the 574.Fl C Ar config 575option is used. 576.It Fl b Ar dir 577Set the root directory in which user home directories are created. 578The default value for this is 579.Pa /home , 580but it may be set elsewhere as desired. 581.It Fl e Ar days 582Set the default account expiration period in days. 583Unlike use without 584.Fl D , 585the argument must be numeric, which specifies the number of days after creation when 586the account is to expire. 587A value of 0 suppresses automatic calculation of the expiry date. 588.It Fl p Ar days 589Set the default password expiration period in days. 590.It Fl g Ar group 591Set the default group for new users. 592If a blank group is specified using 593.Fl g Ar \&"" , 594then new users will be allocated their own private primary group 595with the same name as their login name. 596If a group is supplied, either its name or uid may be given as an argument. 597.It Fl G Ar grouplist 598Set the default groups in which new users are granted membership. 599This is a separate set of groups from the primary group, and you should avoid 600nominating the same group as both primary and extra groups. 601In other words, these extra groups determine membership in groups 602.Em other than 603the primary group. 604.Ar grouplist 605is a comma-separated list of group names or ids, and are always 606stored in 607.Pa /etc/pw.conf 608by their symbolic names. 609.It Fl L Ar class 610This option sets the default login class for new users. 611.It Fl k Ar dir 612Set the default 613.Em skeleton 614directory, from which prototype shell and other initialization files are copied when 615.Nm 616creates a user's home directory. 617See description of 618.Fl k 619for naming conventions of these files. 620.It Xo 621.Fl u Ar min , Ns Ar max , 622.Fl i Ar min , Ns Ar max 623.Xc 624These options set the minimum and maximum user and group ids allocated for new accounts 625and groups created by 626.Nm . 627The default values for each is 1000 minimum and 32000 maximum. 628.Ar min 629and 630.Ar max 631are both numbers, where max must be greater than min, and both must be between 0 632and 32767. 633In general, user and group ids less than 100 are reserved for use by the system, 634and numbers greater than 32000 may also be reserved for special purposes (used by 635some system daemons). 636.It Fl w Ar method 637The 638.Fl w 639option sets the default method used to set passwords for newly created user accounts. 640.Ar method 641is one of: 642.Pp 643.Bl -tag -width random -offset indent -compact 644.It no 645disable login on newly created accounts 646.It yes 647force the password to be the account name 648.It none 649force a blank password 650.It random 651generate a random password 652.El 653.Pp 654The 655.Ql \&random 656or 657.Ql \&no 658methods are the most secure; in the former case, 659.Nm 660generates a password and prints it to stdout, which is suitable where you issue 661users with passwords to access their accounts rather than having the user nominate 662their own (possibly poorly chosen) password. 663The 664.Ql \&no 665method requires that the superuser use 666.Xr passwd 1 667to render the account accessible with a password. 668.It Fl y Ar path 669This sets the pathname of the database used by 670.Tn NIS 671if you are not sharing 672the information from 673.Pa /etc/master.passwd 674directly with 675.Tn NIS . 676You should only set this option for 677.Tn NIS 678servers. 679.El 680.Pp 681The 682.Ar userdel 683command has only three valid options. 684The 685.Fl n Ar name 686and 687.Fl u Ar uid 688options have already been covered above. 689The additional option is: 690.Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist" 691.It Fl r 692This tells 693.Nm 694to remove the user's home directory and all of its contents. 695The 696.Nm 697utility errs on the side of caution when removing files from the system. 698Firstly, it will not do so if the uid of the account being removed is also used by 699another account on the system, and the 'home' directory in the password file is 700a valid path that commences with the character 701.Ql \&/ . 702Secondly, it will only remove files and directories that are actually owned by 703the user, or symbolic links owned by anyone under the user's home directory. 704Finally, after deleting all contents owned by the user only empty directories 705will be removed. 706If any additional cleanup work is required, this is left to the administrator. 707.El 708.Pp 709Mail spool files and crontabs are always removed when an account is deleted as these 710are unconditionally attached to the user name. 711Jobs queued for processing by 712.Ar at 713are also removed if the user's uid is unique and not also used by another account on the 714system. 715.Pp 716The 717.Ar usermod 718command adds one additional option: 719.Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist" 720.It Fl l Ar name 721This option allows changing of an existing account name to 722.Ql \&name . 723The new name must not already exist, and any attempt to duplicate an 724existing account name will be rejected. 725.El 726.Pp 727The 728.Ar usershow 729command allows viewing of an account in one of two formats. 730By default, the format is identical to the format used in 731.Pa /etc/master.passwd 732with the password field replaced with a 733.Ql \&* . 734If the 735.Fl P 736option is used, then 737.Nm 738outputs the account details in a more human readable form. 739If the 740.Fl 7 741option is used, the account details are shown in v7 format. 742The 743.Fl a 744option lists all users currently on file. 745Using 746.Fl F 747forces 748.Nm 749to print the details of an account even if it does not exist. 750.Pp 751The command 752.Ar usernext 753returns the next available user and group ids separated by a colon. 754This is normally of interest only to interactive scripts or front-ends 755that use 756.Nm . 757.Sh GROUP OPTIONS 758The 759.Fl C 760and 761.Fl q 762options (explained at the start of the previous section) are available 763with the group manipulation commands. 764Other common options to all group-related commands are: 765.Bl -tag -width "-m newmembers" 766.It Fl n Ar name 767Specify the group name. 768.It Fl g Ar gid 769Specify the group numeric id. 770.Pp 771As with the account name and id fields, you will usually only need 772to supply one of these, as the group name implies the uid and vice 773versa. 774You will only need to use both when setting a specific group id 775against a new group or when changing the uid of an existing group. 776.It Fl M Ar memberlist 777This option provides an alternative way to add existing users to a 778new group (in groupadd) or replace an existing membership list (in 779groupmod). 780.Ar memberlist 781is a comma separated list of valid and existing user names or uids. 782.It Fl m Ar newmembers 783Similar to 784.Fl M , 785this option allows the 786.Em addition 787of existing users to a group without replacing the existing list of 788members. 789Login names or user ids may be used, and duplicate users are 790silently eliminated. 791.It Fl d Ar oldmembers 792Similar to 793.Fl M , 794this option allows the 795.Em deletion 796of existing users from a group without replacing the existing list of 797members. 798Login names or user ids may be used, and duplicate users are 799silently eliminated. 800.El 801.Pp 802.Ar groupadd 803also has a 804.Fl o 805option that allows allocation of an existing group id to a new group. 806The default action is to reject an attempt to add a group, and this option overrides 807the check for duplicate group ids. 808There is rarely any need to duplicate a group id. 809.Pp 810The 811.Ar groupmod 812command adds one additional option: 813.Bl -tag -width "-m newmembers" 814.It Fl l Ar name 815This option allows changing of an existing group name to 816.Ql \&name . 817The new name must not already exist, and any attempt to duplicate an existing group 818name will be rejected. 819.El 820.Pp 821Options for 822.Ar groupshow 823are the same as for 824.Ar usershow , 825with the 826.Fl g Ar gid 827replacing 828.Fl u Ar uid 829to specify the group id. 830The 831.Fl 7 832option does not apply to the 833.Ar groupshow 834command. 835.Pp 836The command 837.Ar groupnext 838returns the next available group id on standard output. 839.Sh USER LOCKING 840The 841.Nm 842utility 843supports a simple password locking mechanism for users; it works by 844prepending the string 845.Ql *LOCKED* 846to the beginning of the password field in 847.Pa master.passwd 848to prevent successful authentication. 849.Pp 850The 851.Ar lock 852and 853.Ar unlock 854commands take a user name or uid of the account to lock or unlock, 855respectively. 856The 857.Fl V , 858.Fl C , 859and 860.Fl q 861options as described above are accepted by these commands. 862.Sh NOTES 863For a summary of options available with each command, you can use 864.Dl pw [command] help 865For example, 866.Dl pw useradd help 867lists all available options for the useradd operation. 868.Pp 869The 870.Nm 871utility allows 8-bit characters in the passwd GECOS field (user's full name, 872office, work and home phone number subfields), but disallows them in 873user login and group names. 874Use 8-bit characters with caution, as connection to the Internet will 875require that your mail transport program supports 8BITMIME, and will 876convert headers containing 8-bit characters to 7-bit quoted-printable 877format. 878.Xr sendmail 8 879does support this. 880Use of 8-bit characters in the GECOS field should be used in 881conjunction with the user's default locale and character set 882and should not be implemented without their use. 883Using 8-bit characters may also affect other 884programs that transmit the contents of the GECOS field over the 885Internet, such as 886.Xr fingerd 8 , 887and a small number of TCP/IP clients, such as IRC, where full names 888specified in the passwd file may be used by default. 889.Pp 890The 891.Nm 892utility writes a log to the 893.Pa /var/log/userlog 894file when actions such as user or group additions or deletions occur. 895The location of this logfile can be changed in 896.Xr pw.conf 5 . 897.Sh FILES 898.Bl -tag -width /etc/master.passwd.new -compact 899.It Pa /etc/master.passwd 900The user database 901.It Pa /etc/passwd 902A Version 7 format password file 903.It Pa /etc/login.conf 904The user capabilities database 905.It Pa /etc/group 906The group database 907.It Pa /etc/pw.conf 908Pw default options file 909.It Pa /var/log/userlog 910User/group modification logfile 911.El 912.Sh EXIT STATUS 913The 914.Nm 915utility returns EXIT_SUCCESS on successful operation, otherwise 916.Nm 917returns one of the 918following exit codes defined by 919.Xr sysexits 3 920as follows: 921.Bl -tag -width xxxx 922.It EX_USAGE 923.Bl -bullet -compact 924.It 925Command line syntax errors (invalid keyword, unknown option). 926.El 927.It EX_NOPERM 928.Bl -bullet -compact 929.It 930Attempting to run one of the update modes as non-root. 931.El 932.It EX_OSERR 933.Bl -bullet -compact 934.It 935Memory allocation error. 936.It 937Read error from password file descriptor. 938.El 939.It EX_DATAERR 940.Bl -bullet -compact 941.It 942Bad or invalid data provided or missing on the command line or 943via the password file descriptor. 944.It 945Attempted to remove, rename root account or change its uid. 946.El 947.It EX_OSFILE 948.Bl -bullet -compact 949.It 950Skeleton directory is invalid or does not exist. 951.It 952Base home directory is invalid or does not exist. 953.It 954Invalid or non-existent shell specified. 955.El 956.It EX_NOUSER 957.Bl -bullet -compact 958.It 959User, user id, group or group id specified does not exist. 960.It 961User or group recorded, added, or modified unexpectedly disappeared. 962.El 963.It EX_SOFTWARE 964.Bl -bullet -compact 965.It 966No more group or user ids available within specified range. 967.El 968.It EX_IOERR 969.Bl -bullet -compact 970.It 971Unable to rewrite configuration file. 972.It 973Error updating group or user database files. 974.It 975Update error for passwd or group database files. 976.El 977.It EX_CONFIG 978.Bl -bullet -compact 979.It 980No base home directory configured. 981.El 982.El 983.Sh SEE ALSO 984.Xr chpass 1 , 985.Xr passwd 1 , 986.Xr umask 2 , 987.Xr group 5 , 988.Xr login.conf 5 , 989.Xr passwd 5 , 990.Xr pw.conf 5 , 991.Xr pwd_mkdb 8 , 992.Xr vipw 8 993.Sh HISTORY 994The 995.Nm 996utility was written to mimic many of the options used in the SYSV 997.Em shadow 998support suite, but is modified for passwd and group fields specific to 999the 1000.Bx 4.4 1001operating system, and combines all of the major elements 1002into a single command. 1003