ADDUSER(8)



ADDUSER(8)                  System Manager's Manual                 ADDUSER(8)

NAME
       adduser, addgroup - add a user or group to the system

SYNOPSIS
       adduser  [options]  [--home  DIR]  [--shell  SHELL]  [--no-create-home]
       [--uid ID] [--firstuid ID] [--lastuid ID] [--ingroup GROUP | --gid  ID]
       [--disabled-password]  [--disabled-login]  [--gecos  GECOS]  [--add_ex-
       tra_groups] user

       adduser --system [options] [--home DIR] [--shell  SHELL]  [--no-create-
       home]  [--uid  ID]  [--group | --ingroup GROUP | --gid ID] [--disabled-
       password] [--disabled-login] [--gecos GECOS] user

       addgroup [options] [--gid ID] group

       addgroup --system [options] [--gid ID] group

       adduser [options] user group

   COMMON OPTIONS
       [--quiet] [--debug] [--force-badname] [--help|-h]  [--version]  [--conf
       FILE]

DESCRIPTION
       adduser  and  addgroup  add users and groups to the system according to
       command  line  options  and  configuration  information   in   /etc/ad-
       duser.conf.  They are friendlier front ends to the low level tools like
       useradd, groupadd and usermod programs, by default choosing Debian pol-
       icy  conformant  UID  and  GID  values,  creating a home directory with
       skeletal configuration, running a custom script,  and  other  features.
       adduser and addgroup can be run in one of five modes:

   Add a normal user
       If  called  with  one  non-option  argument and without the --system or
       --group options, adduser will add a normal user.

       adduser will choose the first available UID from  the  range  specified
       for  normal users in the configuration file.  The UID can be overridden
       with the --uid option.

       The range specified in the configuration file may  be  overridden  with
       the --firstuid and --lastuid options.

       By  default,  each  user  in  Debian GNU/Linux is given a corresponding
       group with the same name.  Usergroups allow group writable  directories
       to  be  easily  maintained  by placing the appropriate users in the new
       group, setting the set-group-ID bit in the directory, and ensuring that
       all  users use a umask of 002.  If this option is turned off by setting
       USERGROUPS to no, all users' GIDs are set to USERS_GID.  Users' primary
       groups  can  also be overridden from the command line with the --gid or
       --ingroup options to set the group by id or name, respectively.   Also,
       users can be added to one or more groups defined in adduser.conf either
       by setting  ADD_EXTRA_GROUPS  to  1  in  adduser.conf,  or  by  passing
       --add_extra_groups on the commandline.

       adduser  will create a home directory subject to DHOME, GROUPHOMES, and
       LETTERHOMES.  The home directory can be  overridden  from  the  command
       line with the --home option, and the shell with the --shell option. The
       home directory's set-group-ID bit is set if USERGROUPS is yes  so  that
       any  files  created  in the user's home directory will have the correct
       group.

       adduser will copy files from SKEL into the home  directory  and  prompt
       for  finger  (gecos) information and a password.  The gecos may also be
       set with the --gecos option.  With the --disabled-login option, the ac-
       count will be created but will be disabled until a password is set. The
       --disabled-password option will not set a password, but login is  still
       possible (for example with SSH RSA keys).

       If  the  file /usr/local/sbin/adduser.local exists, it will be executed
       after the user account has been set up in order to do any local  setup.
       The arguments passed to adduser.local are:
       username uid gid home-directory
       The  environment  variable  VERBOSE  is  set according to the following
       rule:

       0 if   --quiet is specified

       1 if neither
              --quiet nor --debug is specified

       2 if   --debug is specified

              (The same applies to the variable DEBUG, but DEBUG is deprecated
              and will be removed in a later version of adduser.)

   Add a system user
       If called with one non-option argument and the --system option, adduser
       will add a system user. If a user with the same name already exists  in
       the  system uid range (or, if the uid is specified, if a user with that
       uid already exists), adduser will exit with a warning. This warning can
       be suppressed by adding --quiet.

       adduser  will  choose  the first available UID from the range specified
       for system  users  in  the  configuration  file  (FIRST_SYSTEM_UID  and
       LAST_SYSTEM_UID).  If  you want to have a specific UID, you can specify
       it using the --uid option.

       By default, system users are placed in the nogroup group.  To place the
       new  system  user  in an already existing group, use the --gid or --in-
       group options.  To place the new system user in a new  group  with  the
       same ID, use the --group option.

       A home directory is created by the same rules as for normal users.  The
       new system user will have the shell /usr/sbin/nologin (unless  overrid-
       den  with the --shell option), and have logins disabled.  Skeletal con-
       figuration files are not copied.

   Add a user group
       If adduser is called with the --group option and without  the  --system
       option, or addgroup is called respectively, a user group will be added.

       A  GID  will  be chosen from the range specified for system GIDS in the
       configuration file (FIRST_GID, LAST_GID). To  override  that  mechanism
       you can give the GID using the --gid option.

       The group is created with no users.

   Add a system group
       If  addgroup is called with the --system option, a system group will be
       added.

       A GID will be chosen from the range specified for system  GIDS  in  the
       configuration  file  (FIRST_SYSTEM_GID,  LAST_SYSTEM_GID).  To override
       that mechanism you can give the GID using the --gid option.

       The group is created with no users.

   Add an existing user to an existing group
       If called with two non-option arguments, adduser will add  an  existing
       user to an existing group.

OPTIONS
       --conf FILE
              Use FILE instead of /etc/adduser.conf.

       --disabled-login
              Do  not  run passwd to set the password.  The user won't be able
              to use her account until the password is set.

       --disabled-password
              Like --disabled-login, but logins are still possible (for  exam-
              ple using SSH RSA keys) but not using password authentication.

       --force-badname
              By default, user and group names are checked against the config-
              urable regular expression NAME_REGEX specified in the configura-
              tion file. This option forces adduser and addgroup to apply only
              a weak check for validity of the name.  NAME_REGEX is  described
              in adduser.conf(5).

       --gecos GECOS
              Set  the  gecos field for the new entry generated.  adduser will
              not ask for finger information if this option is given.

       --gid ID
              When creating a group, this option forces the new groupid to  be
              the  given  number.   When creating a user, this option will put
              the user in that group.

       --group
              When combined with --system, a group with the same name  and  ID
              as the system user is created.  If not combined with --system, a
              group with the given name is created.  This is the  default  ac-
              tion if the program is invoked as addgroup.

       --help Display brief instructions.

       --home DIR
              Use  DIR  as  the user's home directory, rather than the default
              specified by the configuration file.  If the directory does  not
              exist, it is created and skeleton files are copied.

       --shell SHELL
              Use  SHELL  as  the  user's login shell, rather than the default
              specified by the configuration file.

       --ingroup GROUP
              Add the new user to GROUP instead of a usergroup or the  default
              group  defined by USERS_GID in the configuration file.  This af-
              fects the users primary group.  To add  additional  groups,  see
              the add_extra_groups option.

       --no-create-home
              Do not create the home directory, even if it doesn't exist.

       --quiet
              Suppress informational messages, only show warnings and errors.

       --debug
              Be  verbose, most useful if you want to nail down a problem with
              adduser.

       --system
              Create a system user or group.

       --uid ID
              Force the new userid to be the given number.  adduser will  fail
              if the userid is already taken.

       --firstuid ID
              Override  the first uid in the range that the uid is chosen from
              (overrides FIRST_UID specified in the configuration file).

       --lastuid ID
              Override the last uid in the range that the uid is chosen from (
              LAST_UID )

       --add_extra_groups
              Add new user to extra groups defined in the configuration file.

       --version
              Display version and copyright information.

EXIT VALUES
       0      The  user  exists as specified. This can have 2 causes: The user
              was created by adduser or the user was already  present  on  the
              system  before adduser was invoked. If adduser was returning 0 ,
              invoking adduser a second time with the same parameters  as  be-
              fore also returns 0.

       1      Creating the user or group failed because it was already present
              with other UID/GID than specified. The username or groupname was
              rejected  because  of a mismatch with the configured regular ex-
              pressions, see adduser.conf(5). Adduser has been  aborted  by  a
              signal.
              Or  for many other yet undocumented reasons which are printed to
              console then. You may then consider to remove  --quiet  to  make
              adduser more verbose.

FILES
       /etc/adduser.conf
              Default configuration file for adduser and addgroup

       /usr/local/sbin/adduser.local
              Optional custom add-ons.

SEE ALSO
       adduser.conf(5),  deluser(8),  groupadd(8), useradd(8), usermod(8), De-
       bian Policy 9.2.2.

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (C) 1997, 1998, 1999 Guy Maor. Modifications by Roland Bauer-
       schmidt  and  Marc  Haber.  Additional patches by Joerg Hoh and Stephen
       Gran.
       Copyright (C) 1995 Ted Hajek, with a great deal borrowed from the orig-
       inal Debian adduser
       Copyright  (C) 1994 Ian Murdock.  adduser is free software; see the GNU
       General Public Licence version  2  or  later  for  copying  conditions.
       There is no warranty.

Debian GNU/Linux                 Version 3.118                      ADDUSER(8)

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