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GROUP(5)                  NetBSD Programmer's Manual                  GROUP(5)


NAME

     group - format of the group permissions file


DESCRIPTION

     The file </etc/group> consists of newline separated ASCII records, one
     per group, containing four colon `:' separated fields. These fields are
     as follows:
           group     Name of the group.
           passwd    Group's encrypted password.
           gid       The group's decimal ID.
           member    Group members.

     The group field is the group name used for granting file access to users
     who are members of the group.  The gid field is the number associated
     with the group name.  They should both be unique across the system (and
     often across a group of systems) since they control file access.  The
     passwd field is an optional encrypted password.  This field is rarely
     used and an asterisk is normally placed in it rather than leaving it
     blank.  The member field contains the names of users granted the privi-
     leges of group. The member names are separated by commas without spaces
     or newlines.  A user is automatically in a group if that group was speci-
     fied in their /etc/passwd entry and does not need to be added to that
     group in the /etc/group file.

     The group with the name ``wheel'' has a special meaning to the su(1) com-
     mand: if it exists and has any members, only users listed in that group
     are allowed to su to ``root''.


YP SUPPORT

     If YP is active, the group file may also contain lines of the format

     +name:*::

     which causes the specified group to be included from the group.byname YP
     map.

     If no group name is specified, or the ``+'' (plus sign) appears alone on
     line, all groups are included from the YP map.

     YP references may appear anywhere in the file, but the single ``+'' form
     should be on the last line, for historical reasons.  Only the first group
     with a specific name encountered, whether in the group file itself, or
     included via YP, will be used.


FILES

     /etc/group


SEE ALSO

     su(1),  setgroups(2),  initgroups(3),  crypt(3),  passwd(1),  passwd(5),
     yp(8)


BUGS

     The passwd(1) command does not change the group passwords.


HISTORY

     A group file format appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.

     YP file format first appeared in SunOS.

4.4BSD                           July 18, 1995                               1