group(4) [opensolaris man page]

group(4)							   File Formats 							  group(4)

NAME

       group - group file

DESCRIPTION

       The  group  file  is a local source of group information. The group file can be used in conjunction with other group sources, including the
       NIS maps group.byname and group.bygid, the NIS+ table group, or group information stored on an LDAP server. Programs use  the  getgrnam(3C)
       routines to access this information.

       The group file contains a one-line entry for each group recognized by the system, of the form:

       groupname:password: gid:user-list

       where

       groupname    The name of the group. A string consisting of lower case alphabetic characters and numeric characters. Neither a colon (:) nor
		    a NEWLINE can be part of a groupname. The string must be less than MAXGLEN-1, usually 8, characters long.

       gid	    The group's unique numerical ID (GID) within the system.

       user-list    A comma-separated list of users allowed in the group.

       The maximum value of the gid field is 2147483647. To maximize interoperability and compatibility, administrators are recommended to  assign
       groups using the range of GIDs below 60000 where possible.

       If the password field is empty, no password is demanded. During user identification and authentication, the supplementary group access list
       is initialized sequentially from information in this file. If a user is in more groups than the system is configured for, {NGROUPS_MAX},  a
       warning will be given and subsequent group specifications will be ignored.

       Malformed  entries  cause  routines that read this file to halt, in which case group assignments specified further along are never made. To
       prevent this from happening, use grpck(1B) to check the /etc/group database from time to time.

       If the number of characters in an entry exceeds 2047, group maintenance commands, such as groupdel(1M) and groupmod(1M), fail.

       Previous releases used a group entry beginning with a `+' (plus sign) or `-' (minus sign) to selectively incorporate entries from a  naming
       service	source	(for  example,	an  NIS  map  or  data	from an LDAP server) for group. If still required, this is supported by specifying
       group:compat in nsswitch.conf(4). The compat source may not be supported in future releases. Possible sources are files followed by ldap or
       nisplus.  This  has  the  effect  of incorporating information from an LDAP server or the entire contents of the NIS+ group table after the
       group file.

EXAMPLES

       Example 1 Example group File.

       The following is an example of a group file:

	 root::0:root
	 stooges:q.mJzTnu8icF.:10:larry,moe,curly

       and the sample group entry from nsswitch.conf:

	 group: files ldap

       With these entries, the group stooges will have members larry, moe, and curly, and all groups listed on the  LDAP  server  are  effectively
       incorporated after the entry for stooges.

       If the group file was:

	 root::0:root
	 stooges:q.mJzTnu8icF.:10:larry,moe,curly
	 +:

       and the group entry from nsswitch.conf:

	 group: compat

       all the groups listed in the NIS group.bygid and group.byname maps would be effectively incorporated after the entry for stooges.

SEE ALSO

       groups(1), grpck(1B), newgrp(1), groupadd(1M), groupdel(1M), groupmod(1M), getgrnam(3C), initgroups(3C), nsswitch.conf(4), unistd.h(3HEAD)

       System Administration Guide: Basic Administration

SunOS 5.11							    27 Aug 2008 							  group(4)

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groupdel(1M)															      groupdel(1M)

NAME

       groupdel - delete a group from the system

SYNOPSIS

       group

DESCRIPTION

       The command deletes a group from the system by removing the appropriate entry from the file.

       The  command must be used with the group argument which is the name of the group to be deleted.	The name consists of a string of printable
       characters that may not include a colon or newline

       Refer to usergroupname(5) to understand the functionality changes with the Numeric User Group Name feature.

   Options
       The command uses the following option:

	      Exercise the safe delete feature.  That is, if the gid of the
			primary group of any system user matches the gid of group, then group is not deleted.

   NIS
       The command is aware of NIS user entries.  Only local groups may be deleted with Attempts to delete an NIS group will result in	an  error.
       NIS groups must be administered from the NIS server.  If is used on a system where NIS is installed, it may fail with the error

       (return value 6), if the group specified is an NIS group (see group(4)).

RETURN VALUE

       exits with one of the following values:

	      No error.
	      Invalid command syntax.
	      Invalid argument supplied to an option.
	      group
		   does not exist.
	      Cannot modify the
		   file.
	      file or
		   file busy. Another command may be modifying the file.
	      Unable to open
		   or file is non-existent.
	      group
		   is busy or cannot delete the primary group.

EXAMPLES

       Delete the group from the file if it exists:

WARNINGS

       Because	many users may try to write the file simultaneously, a password locking mechanism was devised.	If this locking fails after subse-
       quent retrying, terminates.

FILES

SEE ALSO

       users(1), groupadd(1M), groupmod(1M), logins(1M), useradd(1M), userdel(1M), usermod(1M), group(4), usergroupname(5).

STANDARDS CONFORMANCE

																      groupdel(1M)

Linux and UNIX Man Pages

group(4) [opensolaris man page]

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