1USERDEL(8) System Management Commands USERDEL(8)
2
6 userdel - delete a user account and related files
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9 userdel [options] LOGIN
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12 The userdel command modifies the system account files, deleting all
13 entries that refer to the user name LOGIN. The named user must exist.
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16 The options which apply to the userdel command are:
17 -f, --force
19 This option forces the removal of the user account, even if the
20 user is still logged in. It also forces userdel to remove the
21 user´s home directory and mail spool, even if another user uses the
22 same home directory or if the mail spool is not owned by the
23 specified user. If USERGROUPS_ENAB is defined to yes in
24 /etc/login.defs and if a group exists with the same name as the
25 deleted user, then this group will be removed, even if it is still
26 the primary group of another user.
27 Note: This option is dangerous and may leave your system in an
30 inconsistent state.
31 -h, --help
33 Display help message and exit.
34 -r, --remove
36 Files in the user´s home directory will be removed along with the
37 home directory itself and the user´s mail spool. Files located in
38 other file systems will have to be searched for and deleted
39 manually.
40 The mail spool is defined by the MAIL_DIR variable in the
42 login.defs file.
43 -R, --root CHROOT_DIR
45 Apply changes in the CHROOT_DIR directory and use the configuration
46 files from the CHROOT_DIR directory.
47 -Z, --selinux-user
49 Remove any SELinux user mapping for the user´s login.
50
52 The following configuration variables in /etc/login.defs change the
53 behavior of this tool:
54 MAIL_DIR (string)
56 The mail spool directory. This is needed to manipulate the mailbox
57 when its corresponding user account is modified or deleted. If not
58 specified, a compile-time default is used.
59 MAIL_FILE (string)
61 Defines the location of the users mail spool files relatively to
62 their home directory.
63 The MAIL_DIR and MAIL_FILE variables are used by useradd, usermod, and
65 userdel to create, move, or delete the user´s mail spool.
66 If MAIL_CHECK_ENAB is set to yes, they are also used to define the MAIL
68 environment variable.
69 MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP (number)
71 Maximum members per group entry. When the maximum is reached, a new
72 group entry (line) is started in /etc/group (with the same name,
73 same password, and same GID).
74 The default value is 0, meaning that there are no limits in the
76 number of members in a group.
77 This feature (split group) permits to limit the length of lines in
79 the group file. This is useful to make sure that lines for NIS
80 groups are not larger than 1024 characters.
81 If you need to enforce such limit, you can use 25.
83 Note: split groups may not be supported by all tools (even in the
85 Shadow toolsuite). You should not use this variable unless you
86 really need it.
87 USERDEL_CMD (string)
89 If defined, this command is run when removing a user. It should
90 remove any at/cron/print jobs etc. owned by the user to be removed
91 (passed as the first argument).
92 The return code of the script is not taken into account.
94 Here is an example script, which removes the user´s cron, at and
96 print jobs:
97 #! /bin/sh
99 # Check for the required argument.
101 if [ $# != 1 ]; then
102 echo "Usage: $0 username"
103 exit 1
104 fi
105 # Remove cron jobs.
107 crontab -r -u $1
108 # Remove at jobs.
110 # Note that it will remove any jobs owned by the same UID,
111 # even if it was shared by a different username.
112 AT_SPOOL_DIR=/var/spool/cron/atjobs
113 find $AT_SPOOL_DIR -name "[^.]*" -type f -user $1 -delete \;
114 # Remove print jobs.
116 lprm $1
117 # All done.
119 exit 0
120 USERGROUPS_ENAB (boolean)
124 Enable setting of the umask group bits to be the same as owner bits
125 (examples: 022 -> 002, 077 -> 007) for non-root users, if the uid
126 is the same as gid, and username is the same as the primary group
127 name.
128 If set to yes, userdel will remove the user´s group if it contains
130 no more members, and useradd will create by default a group with
131 the name of the user.
132
134 /etc/group
135 Group account information.
136 /etc/login.defs
138 Shadow password suite configuration.
139 /etc/passwd
141 User account information.
142 /etc/shadow
144 Secure user account information.
145
147 The userdel command exits with the following values:
148 0
150 success
151 1
153 can´t update password file
154 2
156 invalid command syntax
157 6
159 specified user doesn´t exist
160 8
162 user currently logged in
163 10
165 can´t update group file
166 12
168 can´t remove home directory
169
171 userdel will not allow you to remove an account if there are running
172 processes which belong to this account. In that case, you may have to
173 kill those processes or lock the user´s password or account and remove
174 the account later. The -f option can force the deletion of this
175 account.
176 You should manually check all file systems to ensure that no files
178 remain owned by this user.
179 You may not remove any NIS attributes on a NIS client. This must be
181 performed on the NIS server.
182 If USERGROUPS_ENAB is defined to yes in /etc/login.defs, userdel will
184 delete the group with the same name as the user. To avoid
185 inconsistencies in the passwd and group databases, userdel will check
186 that this group is not used as a primary group for another user, and
187 will just warn without deleting the group otherwise. The -f option can
188 force the deletion of this group.
189
191 chfn(1), chsh(1), passwd(1), login.defs(5), gpasswd(8), groupadd(8),
192 groupdel(8), groupmod(8), useradd(8), usermod(8).
193shadow-utils 4.1.5.1 05/10/2016 USERDEL(8)