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

NAME

       usermod - modify a user account

SYNOPSIS

       usermod [-D binddn] [-P path] [-g gid [-o]] [-p password]
	       [--service service] [--help] [--usage] [-v] account

DESCRIPTION

       usermod modifies an user account using the values specified on the command line.

OPTIONS

       -A, --add-to-group group,...
	      With this option a list of  groups can be specified, which the user should become a member of. Each group is separated from the next
	      one only by a comma, without whitespace.

       -c, --comment comment
	      This option specifies the new users finger information.  It is normally modified using the chfn(1) utility.

       -d, --home homedir
	      This option specifies the new home directory of the user.

       -e, --expire expire
	      With this option the date when the account will be expired can be changed. expiredate has to be specified as number  of  days  since
	      January 1st, 1970. The date may also be expressed in the format YYYY-MM-DD.

       -f, --inactive inactive
	      This  option is used to set the number of days of inactivity after a password has expired before the account is locked. A user whose
	      account is locked must contact the system  administrator before being able to use the account again.  A value of	-1  disables  this
	      feature.

       -G, --groups group,...
	      With  this option a list of supplementary groups can be specified, which the user should become a member of. Each group is separated
	      from the next one only by a comma, without whitespace. The user is removed from all other groups not specified.

       -g, --gid gid
	      The group name or number of the user's new primary group. The group name must exist and a group number  must  refer  to  an  already
	      existing group.

       -l, --login name
	      Specify  the  new  account  name	for  the user. The account name must begin with an alphabetic character and the rest of the string
	      should be from the POSIX portable character class. Nothing else is changed.

       -m, --move_home
	      Move the user's home directory to the new directory specified with the -d option. If the old directory does not  exist,  nothing	is
	      done. If the new directory already exists, the program aborts with an error.

       -o, --non-unique
	      Allow duplicate (non-unique) User IDs.

       -p, --password password
	      Encrypted password as returned by crypt(3) as the new password.

       -R, --remove-from-group group,...
	      With this option a list of groups can be specified, from which the user should be removed. Each group is separated from the next one
	      only by a comma, without whitespace.

       -s, --shell shell
	      Specify user's new login shell. The value of shell must be a valid executable file. It is normally modified using the chsh(1)  util-
	      ity.

       -u, --uid uid
	      Change  the userid to be the given number. This value must be positive and unique (unless the -o option is used).  Any file with the
	      old UID of the user and which is located in the directory tree rooted at the user's home directory will be changed to  be  owned	by
	      the new UID automatically.

       -D, --binddn binddn
	      Use  the	Distinguished  Name binddn to bind to the LDAP directory.  The user will be prompted for a password for simple authentica-
	      tion.

       -L, --lock
	      A system administrator can lock the account of the specified user.

       -U, --unlock
	      A system administrator can unlock the specified account, if the account is not  passwordless  afterwards	(it  will  not	unlock	an
	      account that has only  "!" as a password).

       -P, --path path
	      The  passwd  and	shadow	files  are  located  below the specified directory path.  usermod will use this files, not /etc/passwd and
	      /etc/shadow.

       --service service
	      Modify the account from a special directory. The default is files, but ldap is also valid.

       --help Print a list of valid options with a short description.

       --usage
	      Print a short list of valid options.

       -v, --version
	      Print the version number and exit.

NOTES

       usermod will not allow you to change the name, User ID or home directory of a user, which is logged in. usermod will not change the User ID
       of running processes and not the ownership of crontab and at jobs.

FILES

       /etc/group - group information
       /etc/passwd - user account information
       /etc/shadow - shadow user account information

SEE ALSO

       passwd(1), login.defs(5), group(5), passwd(5), shadow(5), useradd(8), userdel(8)

AUTHOR

       Thorsten Kukuk <kukuk@suse.de>

pwdutils							     Feb 2010								usermod(8)