USERADD(8)						    BSD System Manager's Manual 						USERADD(8)

NAME

     useradd -- add a user to the system

SYNOPSIS

     useradd -D [-F] [-b base-dir] [-e expiry-time] [-f inactive-time] [-g gid | name | =uid] [-k skel-dir] [-L login-class] [-M home-perm]
	     [-r lowuid..highuid] [-s shell]
     useradd [-moSv] [-b base-dir] [-c comment] [-d home-dir] [-e expiry-time] [-f inactive-time] [-G secondary-group] [-g gid | name | =uid]
	     [-k skel-dir] [-L login-class] [-M home-perm] [-p password] [-r lowuid..highuid] [-s shell] [-u uid] user

DESCRIPTION

     The useradd utility adds a user to the system, creating and populating a home directory if necessary.  Any skeleton files will be provided
     for the new user if they exist in the skel-dir directory (see the -k option).  Default values for the base directory, the time of password
     expiry, the time of account expiry, primary group, the skeleton directory, the range from which the uid will be allocated, and default login
     shell can be provided in the /etc/usermgmt.conf file, which, if running as root, is created using the built-in defaults if it does not exist.

     The first form of the command shown above (using the -D option) sets and displays the defaults for the useradd utility.

     See user(8) for more information about EXTENSIONS.

     -b base-dir
	     Set the default base directory.  This is the directory to which the user directory is added, which will be created if the -m option
	     is specified and no -d option is specified.

     -D      without any further options, -D will show the current defaults which will be used by the useradd utility.	Together with one of the
	     options shown for the first version of the command, -D will set the default to be the new value.  See usermgmt.conf(5) for more
	     information.

     -e expiry-time
	     Set the time at which the new user accounts will expire.  It should be entered in the form ``month day year'', where month is the
	     month name (the first three characters are sufficient), day is the day of the month, and year is the year.  Time in seconds since the
	     epoch (UTC) is also valid.  A value of 0 can be used to disable this feature.

     -F      Force the user to change their password upon next login.

     -f inactive-time
	     Set the time at which passwords for the new user accounts will expire.  Also see the -e option above.

     -g gid | groupname | =uid
	     Set the default group for new users.

     -k skel-dir
	     Set the skeleton directory in which to find files with which to populate new users' home directories.

     -L login-class
	     Set the default login class for new users.  See login.conf(5) for more information on user login classes.	This option is included if
	     built with EXTENSIONS.

     -M home-perm
	     sets the default permissions of the newly created home directory if -m is given.  The permission is specified as an octal number,
	     with or without a leading zero.

     -r lowuid..highuid
	     Set the low and high bounds of uid ranges for new users.  A new user can only be created if there are uids which can be assigned from
	     one of the free ranges.  This option is included if built with EXTENSIONS.

     -s shell
	     Set the default login shell for new users.

     In the second form of the command, after setting any defaults, and then reading values from /etc/usermgmt.conf, the following command line
     options are processed:

     -b base-directory
	     Set the base directory name, in which the user's new home directory will be created, should the -m option be specified.

     -c comment
	     Set the comment field (also, for historical reasons known as the GECOS field) which will be added for the user, and typically will
	     include the user's full name, and, perhaps, contact information for the user.

     -d home-directory
	     Set the home directory which will be created and populated for the user, should the -m option be specified.

     -e expiry-time
	     Set the time at which the current password will expire for new users.  It should be entered in the form ``month day year'', where
	     month is the month name (the first three characters are sufficient), day is the day of the month, and year is the year.  Time in sec-
	     onds since the epoch (UTC) is also valid.	A value of 0 can be used to disable this feature.  See passwd(5) for more details.

     -f inactive-time
	     Set the time at which new user accounts will expire.  Also see the -e option above.

     -G secondary-group
	     Add the user to the secondary group secondary-group in the /etc/group file.  The secondary-group may be a comma-delimited list for
	     multiple groups.  Or the option may be repeated for multiple groups.  (16 groups maximum.)

     -g gid | name | =uid
	     Give the group name or identifier to be used for the new user's primary group.  If this is '=uid', then a uid and gid will be picked
	     which are both unique and the same, and a line added to /etc/group to describe the new group.

     -k skeleton directory
	     Give the skeleton directory in which to find files with which to populate the new user's home directory.

     -L login-class
	     Set the login class for the user being created.  See login.conf(5) for more information on user login classes.  This option is
	     included if built with EXTENSIONS.

     -M home-perm
	     sets the permissions of the newly created home directory if -m is given.  The permission is specified as an octal number, with or
	     without a leading zero.

     -m      Create a new home directory for the new user.

     -o      Allow the new user to have a uid which is already in use for another user.

     -p password
	     Specify an already-encrypted password for the new user.  Encrypted passwords can be generated with pwhash(1).  The password can be
	     changed later by using chpass(1) or passwd(1).  This option is included if built with EXTENSIONS.

     -S      Allow samba user names with a trailing dollar sign to be added to the system.  This option is included if built with EXTENSIONS.

     -s shell
	     Specify the login shell for the new user.

     -u uid  Specify a uid for the new user.  Boundaries for this value can be preset for all users by using the range field in the
	     /etc/usermgmt.conf file.

     -v      Enable verbose mode - explain the commands as they are executed.  This option is included if built with EXTENSIONS.

     Once the information has been verified, useradd uses pwd_mkdb(8) to update the user database.  This is run in the background, and, at very
     large sites could take several minutes.  Until this update is completed, the password file is unavailable for other updates and the new
     information is not available to programs.

EXIT STATUS

     The useradd utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

FILES

     /etc/usermgmt.conf
     /etc/skel/*
     /etc/login.conf

SEE ALSO

     chpass(1), passwd(1), pwhash(1), group(5), login.conf(5), passwd(5), usermgmt.conf(5), pwd_mkdb(8), user(8), userdel(8), usermod(8)

HISTORY

     The useradd utility first appeared in NetBSD 1.5.	It is based on the addnerd package by the same author.

AUTHORS

     The useradd utility was written by Alistair G. Crooks <agc@NetBSD.org>.

     Support for setting permissions of home directories was added by Hubert Feyrer.

BSD
								 January 13, 2009							       BSD