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adduser(8)

NAME

     adduser -- command for adding new users

SYNOPSIS

     adduser [-CDENShq] [-G groups] [-L login_class] [-d partition] [-f file]
	     [-g login_group] [-k dotdir] [-m message_file] [-s shell]
	     [-u uid_start] [-w type]

DESCRIPTION

     The adduser utility is a shell script, implemented around the pw(8) com-
     mand, for adding new users.  It creates passwd/group entries, a home
     directory, copies dotfiles and sends the new user a welcome message.  It
     supports two modes of operation.  It may be used interactively at the
     command line to add one user at a time, or it may be directed to get the
     list of new users from a file and operate in batch mode without requiring
     any user interaction.

RESTRICTIONS

     username
	     Login name.  The user name is restricted to whatever pw(8) will
	     accept.  Generally this means it may contain only lowercase char-
	     acters or digits.	Maximum length is 16 characters.  The reasons
	     for this limit are historical.  Given that people have tradition-
	     ally wanted to break this limit for aesthetic reasons, it has
	     never been of great importance to break such a basic fundamental
	     parameter in UNIX.  You can change UT_NAMESIZE in <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
	     /etc/mail/aliases.

     full name
	     This is typically known as the gecos field and usually contains
	     the user's full name.  Additionally, it may contain a comma sepa-
	     rated list of values such as office number and work and home
	     phones.  If the name contains an ampersand it will be replaced by
	     the capitalized login name when displayed by other programs.  The
	     `:' character is not allowed.

     shell   Unless the -S argument is supplied only valid shells from the
	     shell database (/etc/shells) are allowed.	In addition, either
	     the base name or the full path of the shell may be supplied.

     UID     Automatically generated or your choice.  It must be less than
	     32000.

     GID/login group
	     Automatically generated or your choice.  It must be less than
	     32000.

     password
	     You may choose an empty password, disable the password, use a
	     randomly generated password or specify your own plaintext pass-
	     word, which will be encrypted before being stored in the user
	     database.

     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)

CONFIGURATION

     The adduser utility reads its configuration information from
     /etc/adduser.conf.  If this file does not exist, it will use predefined
     defaults.	While this file may be edited by hand, the safer option is to
     use the -C command line argument.	With this argument, adduser will start
     interactive input, save the answers to its prompts in /etc/adduser.conf,
     and promptly exit without modifying the user database.  Options specified
     on the command line will take precedence over any values saved in this
     file.

OPTIONS

     -C      Create new configuration file and exit.  This option is mutually
	     exclusive with the -f option.

     -d partition
	     Home partition.  Default partition, under which all user directo-
	     ries will be located.  The /nonexistent partition is considered
	     special.  The adduser script will not create and populate a home
	     directory by that name.  Otherwise, by default it attempts to
	     create a home directory.

     -D      Do not attempt to create the home directory.

     -E      Disable the account.  This option will lock the account by
	     prepending the string ``*LOCKED*'' to the password field.	The
	     account may be unlocked by the super-user with the pw(8) command:

		   pw unlock [name | uid]

     -f file
	     Get the list of accounts to create from file.  If file is ``-'',
	     then get the list from standard input.  If this option is speci-
	     fied, adduser will operate in batch mode and will not seek any
	     user input.  If an error is encountered while processing an
	     account, it will write a message to standard error and move to
	     the next account.	The format of the input file is described
	     below.

     -g login_group
	     Normaly, if no login group is specified, it is assumed to be the
	     same as the username.  This option makes login_group the default.

     -G groups
	     Additional groups.  This option allows the user to specify addi-
	     tional groups to add users to.  The user is a member of these
	     groups in addition to their login group.


     -m file
	     Send new users a welcome message from file.  Specifying a value
	     of no for file causes no message to be sent to new users.	Please
	     note that the message file can reference the internal variables
	     of the adduser script.

     -N      Do not read the default configuration file.

     -q      Minimal user feedback.  In particular, the random password will
	     not be echoed to standard output.

     -s shell
	     Default shell for new users.  The shell argument may be the base
	     name of the shell or the full path.  Unless the -S argument is
	     supplied the shell must exist in /etc/shells or be the special
	     shell nologin to be considered a valid shell.

     -S      The existence or validity of the specified shell will not be
	     checked.

     -u uid  Use UIDs from uid on up.

     -w type
	     Password type.  The adduser utility allows the user to specify
	     what type of password to create.  The type argument may have one
	     of the following values:

	     no      Disable the password.  Instead of an encrypted string,
		     the password field will contain a single `*' character.
		     The user may not log in until the super-user manually
		     enables the password.

	     none    Use an empty string as the password.

	     yes     Use a user-supplied string as the password.  In interac-
		     tive mode, the user will be prompted for the password.
		     In batch mode, the last (10th) field in the line is
		     assumed to be the password.

	     random  Generate a random string and use it as a password.  The
		     password will be echoed to standard output.  In addition,
		     it will be available for inclusion in the message file in
		     the randompass variable.

FORMAT

     When the -f option is used, the account information must be stored in a
     specific format.  All empty lines or lines beginning with a `#' will be
     ignored.  All other lines must contain ten colon (`:') separated fields
     as described below.  Command line options do not take precedence over
     values in the fields.  Only the password field may contain a `:' charac-
     ter as part of the string.

	   name:uid:gid:class:change:expire:gecos:home_dir:shell:password

     name      Login name.  This field may not be empty.

     uid       Numeric login user ID.  If this field is left empty, it will be
     change    Password ageing.  This field denotes the password change date
	       for the account.  The format of this field is the same as the
	       format of the -p argument to pw(8).  It may be dd-mmm-yy[yy],
	       where dd is for the day, mmm is for the month in numeric or
	       alphabetical format: ``10'' or ``Oct'', and yy[yy] is the four
	       or two digit year.  To denote a time relative to the current
	       date the format is: +n[mhdwoy], where n denotes a number, fol-
	       lowed by the minutes, hours, days, weeks, months or years after
	       which the password must be changed.  This field may be left
	       empty to turn it off.

     expire    Account expiration.  This field denotes the expiry date of the
	       account.  The account may not be used after the specified date.
	       The format of this field is the same as that for password age-
	       ing.  This field may be left empty to turn it off.

     gecos     Full name and other extra information about the user.

     home_dir  Home directory.	If this field is left empty, it will be auto-
	       matically created by appending the username to the home parti-
	       tion.  The /nonexistent home directory is considered special
	       and is understood to mean that no home directory is to be cre-
	       ated for the user.

     shell     Login shell.  This field should contain either the base name or
	       the full path to a valid login shell.

     password  User password.  This field should contain a plaintext string,
	       which will be encrypted before being placed in the user data-
	       base.  If the password type is yes and this field is empty, it
	       is assumed the account will have an empty password.  If the
	       password type is random and this field is not empty, its con-
	       tents will be used as a password.  This field will be ignored
	       if the -p option is used with a no or none argument.  Be care-
	       ful not to terminate this field with a closing `:' because it
	       will be treated as part of the password.

FILES

     /etc/master.passwd    user database
     /etc/group 	   group database
     /etc/shells	   shell database
     /etc/login.conf	   login classes database
     /etc/adduser.conf	   configuration file for adduser
     /etc/adduser.message  message file for adduser
     /usr/share/skel	   skeletal login directory
     /var/log/adduser	   logfile for adduser

SEE ALSO

     chpass(1), passwd(1), adduser.conf(5), aliases(5), group(5),
     login.conf(5), passwd(5), shells(5), pw(8), pwd_mkdb(8), rmuser(8),
     vipw(8), yp(8)

HISTORY

     The adduser command appeared in FreeBSD 2.1.

AUTHORS

     This manual page and the original script, in Perl, was written by Wolfram
     Schneider <wosch@FreeBSD.org>.  The replacement script, written as a
     mitigate the possibility of an attacker using this feature by refusing to
     evaluate the file if it is not owned and writeable only by the root user.
     In addition, shell special characters and operators will have to be
     escaped when used in the message file.

     Also, password ageing and account expiry times are currently setable only
     in batch mode or when specified in /etc/adduser.conf.  The user should be
     able to set them in interactive mode as well.

FreeBSD 5.4			March 30, 2004			   FreeBSD 5.4

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