usermod(8) - NetBSD Manual Pages

USERMOD(8)              NetBSD System Manager's Manual              USERMOD(8)


NAME

     usermod - modify user login information


SYNOPSIS

     usermod [-mov] [-G secondary-group] [-c comment] [-d home-dir] [-e
     expiry-time] [-f inactive-time] [-g gid | name | =uid] [-L login-class]
     [-l new-login] [-p password] [-s shell] [-u uid] user


DESCRIPTION

     The usermod utility modifies user login information on the system.

     Default values are taken from the information provided in the
     /etc/usermgmt.conf file, which, if running as root, is created using the
     built-in defaults if it does not exist.

     After setting any defaults, and then reading values from
     /etc/usermgmt.conf, the following command line options are processed:

     -G secondary-group
             is the secondary group to which the user will be added in the
             /etc/group file.

     -c comment
             is the comment field (also, for historical reasons known as the
             GECOS field) which will be added for the user, and typically will
             include the username, and, perhaps, contact information for the
             user.

     -d home-directory
             Sets the home directory to home-directory without populating it;
             if the -m option is specified, tries to move the old home direc-
             tory to home-directory.

     -e expiry-time
             sets the time at which the current password expires.  This can be
             used to implement password aging.  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.
             This value can be preset for all users using the expire field in
             the /etc/usermgmt.conf file.  See usermgmt.conf(5) for more de-
             tails.

     -f inactive-time
             sets the time at which the account expires.  See the -e option.

     -g gid | name | =uid
             gives the group name or identifier to be used for the user's pri-
             mary 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.  This value can be preset
             for all users by using the gid field in the /etc/usermgmt.conf
             file.  See usermgmt.conf(5) for more details.

     -L login-class
             This option sets the login class for the user.  See login.conf(5)
             for more information on user login classes. This value can be
             preset for all users by using the class field in the
             /etc/usermgmt.conf file.  See usermgmt.conf(5) for more details.

     -l new-user
             gives the new user name.  It must consist of alphanumeric charac-
             ters, or the characters `.', `-' or `_'.

     -m      moves the home directory from its old position to the new one.
             If -d is not specified, the new-user argument of the -l option is
             used; one of -d and -l is needed.

     -o      allows duplicate uids to be given.

     -p password
             specifies an already-encrypted password for the user.  This pass-
             word can then be changed by using the chpass(1) utility.  This
             value can be preset for all users by using the password field in
             the /etc/usermgmt.conf file.  See usermgmt.conf(5) for more de-
             tails.

     -s shell
             specifies the login shell for the user.  This value can be preset
             for all users by using the shell field in the /etc/usermgmt.conf
             file.  See usermgmt.conf(5) for more details.

     -u uid  specifies a new uid for the user.  Boundaries for this value can
             be preset for all users by using the range field in the
             /etc/usermgmt.conf file.  See usermgmt.conf(5) for more details.

     -v      enables verbose mode - explain the commands as they are executed.

     Once the information has been verified, usermod uses pwd_mkdb(8) to up-
     date 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 informa-
     tion is not available to programs.

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


FILES

     /etc/usermgmt.conf


SEE ALSO

     chpass(1), group(5), passwd(5), usermgmt.conf(5), pwd_mkdb(8)


HISTORY

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


AUTHORS

     The usermod utility was written by Alistair G. Crooks (agc@netbsd.org).

NetBSD 1.6                     September 5, 2001                             2