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-secs] [-g gid | name | =uid] [-l new-login] [-p
     password] [-s shell] [-u uid] user


DESCRIPTION

     The usermod utility modifies user login information on the system.  De-
     fault values for the user are taken from the information provided in the
     /etc/usermgmt.conf file.

     After setting any defaults, and then values from that file, the 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 secs-to-expiry
             provides the number of seconds since the epoch (UTC) at which the
             current password change expire. This can be used to implement
             password aging.  A value of 0 can be used to switch off this fea-
             ture.  The default value for this field is 0.  See passwd(5) for
             more details.  This value can be preset for all users by using
             the expire field in the /etc/usermgmt.conf file - it has the for-
             mat:
                   expire secs-to-expiry

     -g gid | name | =uid
             gives 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.  This value can be preset
             for all users by using the gid field in the
             /usr/share/adduser/defaults file - it has the format:
                   group gid | name | =uid

     -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 new user.  This
             password 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 - it has the format:
                   password encrypted-password

     -s shell
             specifies the login shell for the new user.  This value can be
             preset for all users by using the shell field in the
             /usr/share/adduser/defaults file - it has the format:
                   shell login-shell

     -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 - they have the format:
                   range starting-uid..ending_uid

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

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


FILES

     /etc/usermgmt.conf


SEE ALSO

     chpass(1), passwd(5), group(5)


HISTORY

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


AUTHOR

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

NetBSD                         November 30, 1999                             2