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] 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  configura‐
       tion, running a custom script, and other features.  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 USER‐
       GROUPS  to  no,  all  users' GIDs are set to USERS_GID.  Users' primary 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  passing
       --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 possi‐
       ble (for example with SSH RSA keys).

       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 setup.  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 warning 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 spe‐
       cific 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  /bin/false  (unless  overridden 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  specified  in  the  configuration  file. This option forces
              adduser and addgroup to apply only a weak check for validity of the name.

       --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 con‐
              figuration 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  con‐
              figuration 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 parame‐
              ters 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

SEE ALSO
       adduser.conf(5), deluser(8), useradd(8), groupadd(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 3.113+nmu3                             ADDUSER(8)