netgroup(5) [netbsd man page]

NETGROUP(5)						      BSD File Formats Manual						       NETGROUP(5)

NAME

     netgroup -- defines network groups

SYNOPSIS

     netgroup

DESCRIPTION

     The netgroup file specifies ``netgroups'', which are sets of (host, user, domain) tuples that are to be given similar network access.

     Each line in the file consists of a netgroup name followed by a list of the members of the netgroup.  Each member can be either the name of
     another netgroup or a specification of a tuple as follows:

	   (host, user, domain)

     where the host, user, and domain are character string names for the corresponding component.  Any of the comma separated fields may be empty
     to specify a ``wildcard'' value or may consist of the string ``-'' to specify ``no valid value''.	The members of the list may be separated
     by whitespace; the ``'' character may be used at the end of a line to specify line continuation.	The functions specified in getnetgrent(3)
     should normally be used to access the netgroup database.

     If 'files' is specified for the 'netgroup' database in nsswitch.conf(5), (or no 'netgroup' entry is specified), then these functions operate
     on the db(3) version of the netgroup (netgroup.db) file which can be generated using netgroup_mkdb(8).  If 'nis' is specified then the NIS
     maps 'netgroup', 'netgroup.byhost', and 'netgroup.byuser' are used.

     Lines that begin with a # are treated as comments.

FILES

     /etc/netgroup.db  the netgroup database.

SEE ALSO

     getnetgrent(3), exports(5), nsswitch.conf(5), netgroup_mkdb(8)

COMPATIBILITY

     The file format is compatible with that of various vendors, however it appears that not all vendors use an identical format.

BUGS

     The interpretation of access restrictions based on the member tuples of a netgroup is left up to the various network applications.

BSD
								 January 16, 1999							       BSD

netgroup(5)						      Linux Reference Manual						       netgroup(5)

NAME

       netgroup - specify network groups

DESCRIPTION

       The  netgroup  file   defines  "netgroups",  which  are sets of (host, user, domain) tuples, used for permission checking when doing remote
       mounts, remote logins and remote shells.

       Each line in the file consists of a netgroup name followed by a by a list of members, where a member is either another netgroup name, or  a
       triple:

	      (host, user, domain)

       where  the  host,  user,  and domain are character strings for the corresponding components. Any of the three fields can be empty, in which
       case it specifies a "wildcard", or may consist of the string "-" to specify "no valid value". The domain field must  either  be	the  local
       domain name or empty for the netgroup entry to be used. This field does not limit the netgroup or provide security. The domain field refers
       to the domain in which the triple is valid, not the domain containing the the trusted host.

       A gateway machine should be listed under all possible hostnames by which it may be recognized:

	      gateway (server,,) (server-sn,,) (server-bb,,)

       The getnetgrent functions should normally be used to access the netgroup database.

FILES

       /etc/netgroup

SEE ALSO

       getnetgrent(3), exports(5), makedbm(8), ypserv(8)

WARNINGS

       The triple (,,domain) allows all users and machines trusted access, and has the same effect as the triple  (,,).  Use  the  host  and  user
       fields of the triple to restrict the access correctly to a specific set of members.

BUGS

       The Linux libc5 does not query the /etc/netgroup file directly, it only querys the NIS server for the groups. So the netgroup database must
       be stored in the form of a hashed dbm database just like the passwd(5) and group(5) databases.

       This manpage mentions getnetgrent(3), but it seems that manpage hasn't been written yet. Since getnetgrent() is part of GNU libc  it  might
       also be that it is documented in info format.

AUTHOR

       Thorsten Kukuk <kukuk@suse.de>

NIS
								     May 1999							       netgroup(5)