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_extra_groups] [--encrypt-home] 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/adduser.conf.  They are friendlier front ends to the low level tools like useradd, groupadd and usermod programs, by default  choosing
       Debian policy conformant UID and GID values, creating a home directory with skeletal configuration, running a custom script, and other fea-
       tures.  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' pri-
       mary 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 pass-
       ing --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 account 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).   To  set  up  an
       encrypted  home directory for the new user, add the --encrypt-home option.  For more information, refer to the -b option of ecryptfs-setup-
       private(1).

       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  set-
       up.  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 warn-
       ing 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
       --ingroup 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 over-
       ridden with the --shell option), and have logins disabled.  Skeletal configuration 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 example using SSH RSA keys) but not using password authentication.

       --force-badname
              By  default, user and group names are checked against the configurable regular expression NAME_REGEX (or NAME_REGEX_SYSTEM if --sys-
              tem is specified) specified in the configuration file. This option forces adduser and addgroup to apply only a weak check for valid-
              ity 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 action 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  affects
              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  before  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 expressions, 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), Debian Policy 9.2.2.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright  (C)  1997, 1998, 1999 Guy Maor. Modifications by Roland Bauerschmidt and Marc Haber. Additional patches by Joerg Hoh and Stephen
       Gran.
       Copyright (C) 1995 Ted Hajek, with a great deal borrowed from the original 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 3.116ubuntu1                                                     ADDUSER(8)