Hey everyone, I need a little help....

I need to add my root user to a new group I have created, I'm just alittle unsure how to do this.

I know I need to use the 'useradd' command, the user 'root' needs to be added to a new group called 'beoper' and retain his membership in the following groups - 'other, root, bin, sys, adm, uucp, mail, tty, lp, nuucp, daemon'

Could someone please show me the correct syntax to perform this function, I really can't afford to screw this one up. Thanks.

You have things slightly mixed up. useradd is used to add a new user to the system. If you want to edit the attributes of an existing user, you have to use usermod. Run the following command:
This will add beoper to the list of groups that root is already a member of. Here is the man page for usermod.

Thanks for that.

Do I need to list all the other groups that root is a member of ?

The -G syntax states that you need to list all current groups or you will no longer be a members of those groups.

I just need to make sure, I can't have any mistakes.

I don't think so... look at the man page....

Hence, the user will be, I assume, removed from all groups except their primary group and the beoper group.

I would just go and hack at the /etc/group file, and tack "root" onto the end of the beoper line (comma seperated with the other users listed).

Cheers
ZB

If you use usermod, yes. Comma seperated, no spaces. Do not include primary group membership.

Cheers
ZB

I'd also do it the way ZB suggests.

Sorry for the wrong info. Actually, I always edit the /etc/group file and it really has been ages since I used the usermod command to add a user to a group.