1NEWUSERS(8) System Management Commands NEWUSERS(8)
2
6 newusers - update and create new users in batch
7
9 newusers [options] [file]
10
12 The newusers command reads a file (or the standard input by default)
13 and uses this information to update a set of existing users or to
14 create new users. Each line is in the same format as the standard
15 password file (see passwd(5)) with the exceptions explained below:
16 pw_name:pw_passwd:pw_uid:pw_gid:pw_gecos:pw_dir:pw_shell
18 pw_name
20 This is the name of the user.
21 It can be the name of a new user or the name of an existing user
23 (or a user created before by newusers). In case of an existing
24 user, the user's information will be changed, otherwise a new user
25 will be created.
26 pw_passwd
28 This field will be encrypted and used as the new value of the
29 encrypted password.
30 pw_uid
32 This field is used to define the UID of the user.
33 If the field is empty, a new (unused) UID will be defined
35 automatically by newusers.
36 If this field contains a number, this number will be used as the
38 UID.
39 If this field contains the name of an existing user (or the name of
41 a user created before by newusers), the UID of the specified user
42 will be used.
43 If the UID of an existing user is changed, the files ownership of
45 the user's file should be fixed manually.
46 pw_gid
48 This field is used to define the primary group ID for the user.
49 If this field contains the name of an existing group (or a group
51 created before by newusers), the GID of this group will be used as
52 the primary group ID for the user.
53 If this field is a number, this number will be used as the primary
55 group ID of the user. If no groups exist with this GID, a new group
56 will be created with this GID, and the name of the user.
57 If this field is empty, a new group will be created with the name
59 of the user and a GID will be automatically defined by newusers to
60 be used as the primary group ID for the user and as the GID for the
61 new group.
62 If this field contains the name of a group which does not exist
64 (and was not created before by newusers), a new group will be
65 created with the specified name and a GID will be automatically
66 defined by newusers to be used as the primary group ID for the user
67 and GID for the new group.
68 pw_gecos
70 This field is copied in the GECOS field of the user.
71 pw_dir
73 This field is used to define the home directory of the user.
74 If this field does not specify an existing directory, the specified
76 directory is created, with ownership set to the user being created
77 or updated and its primary group. Note that newusers does not
78 create parent directories of the new user's home directory. The
79 newusers command will fail to create the home directory if the
80 parent directories do not exist, and will send a message to stderr
81 informing the user of the failure. The newusers command will not
82 halt or return a failure to the calling shell if it fails to create
83 the home directory, it will continue to process the batch of new
84 users specified.
85 If the home directory of an existing user is changed, newusers does
87 not move or copy the content of the old directory to the new
88 location. This should be done manually.
89 pw_shell
91 This field defines the shell of the user. No checks are performed
92 on this field.
93 newusers first tries to create or change all the specified users, and
95 then write these changes to the user or group databases. If an error
96 occurs (except in the final writes to the databases), no changes are
97 committed to the databases.
98 This command is intended to be used in a large system environment where
100 many accounts are updated at a single time.
101
103 The options which apply to the newusers command are:
104 -c, --crypt-method
106 Use the specified method to encrypt the passwords.
107 The available methods are DES, MD5, NONE, and SHA256 or SHA512 if
109 your libc support these methods.
110 -h, --help
112 Display help message and exit.
113 -r, --system
115 Create a system account.
116 System users will be created with no aging information in
118 /etc/shadow, and their numeric identifiers are chosen in the
119 SYS_UID_MIN-SYS_UID_MAX range, defined in login.defs, instead of
120 UID_MIN-UID_MAX (and their GID counterparts for the creation of
121 groups).
122 -R, --root CHROOT_DIR
124 Apply changes in the CHROOT_DIR directory and use the configuration
125 files from the CHROOT_DIR directory.
126 -s, --sha-rounds
128 Use the specified number of rounds to encrypt the passwords.
129 The value 0 means that the system will choose the default number of
131 rounds for the crypt method (5000).
132 A minimal value of 1000 and a maximal value of 999,999,999 will be
134 enforced.
135 You can only use this option with the SHA256 or SHA512 crypt
137 method.
138 By default, the number of rounds is defined by the
140 SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS and SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS variables in
141 /etc/login.defs.
142
144 The input file must be protected since it contains unencrypted
145 passwords.
146 You should make sure the passwords and the encryption method respect
148 the system's password policy.
149
151 The following configuration variables in /etc/login.defs change the
152 behavior of this tool:
153 ENCRYPT_METHOD (string)
155 This defines the system default encryption algorithm for encrypting
156 passwords (if no algorithm are specified on the command line).
157 It can take one of these values: DES (default), MD5, SHA256,
159 SHA512.
160 Note: this parameter overrides the MD5_CRYPT_ENAB variable.
162 GID_MAX (number), GID_MIN (number)
164 Range of group IDs used for the creation of regular groups by
165 useradd, groupadd, or newusers.
166 The default value for GID_MIN (resp. GID_MAX) is 1000 (resp.
168 60000).
169 MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP (number)
171 Maximum members per group entry. When the maximum is reached, a new
172 group entry (line) is started in /etc/group (with the same name,
173 same password, and same GID).
174 The default value is 0, meaning that there are no limits in the
176 number of members in a group.
177 This feature (split group) permits to limit the length of lines in
179 the group file. This is useful to make sure that lines for NIS
180 groups are not larger than 1024 characters.
181 If you need to enforce such limit, you can use 25.
183 Note: split groups may not be supported by all tools (even in the
185 Shadow toolsuite). You should not use this variable unless you
186 really need it.
187 MD5_CRYPT_ENAB (boolean)
189 Indicate if passwords must be encrypted using the MD5-based
190 algorithm. If set to yes, new passwords will be encrypted using the
191 MD5-based algorithm compatible with the one used by recent releases
192 of FreeBSD. It supports passwords of unlimited length and longer
193 salt strings. Set to no if you need to copy encrypted passwords to
194 other systems which don't understand the new algorithm. Default is
195 no.
196 This variable is superseded by the ENCRYPT_METHOD variable or by
198 any command line option used to configure the encryption algorithm.
199 This variable is deprecated. You should use ENCRYPT_METHOD.
201 PASS_MAX_DAYS (number)
203 The maximum number of days a password may be used. If the password
204 is older than this, a password change will be forced. If not
205 specified, -1 will be assumed (which disables the restriction).
206 PASS_MIN_DAYS (number)
208 The minimum number of days allowed between password changes. Any
209 password changes attempted sooner than this will be rejected. If
210 not specified, -1 will be assumed (which disables the restriction).
211 PASS_WARN_AGE (number)
213 The number of days warning given before a password expires. A zero
214 means warning is given only upon the day of expiration, a negative
215 value means no warning is given. If not specified, no warning will
216 be provided.
217 SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS (number), SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS (number)
219 When ENCRYPT_METHOD is set to SHA256 or SHA512, this defines the
220 number of SHA rounds used by the encryption algorithm by default
221 (when the number of rounds is not specified on the command line).
222 With a lot of rounds, it is more difficult to brute forcing the
224 password. But note also that more CPU resources will be needed to
225 authenticate users.
226 If not specified, the libc will choose the default number of rounds
228 (5000).
229 The values must be inside the 1000-999,999,999 range.
231 If only one of the SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS or SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS
233 values is set, then this value will be used.
234 If SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS > SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS, the highest value
236 will be used.
237 SUB_GID_MIN (number), SUB_GID_MAX (number), SUB_GID_COUNT (number)
239 If /etc/subuid exists, the commands useradd and newusers (unless
240 the user already have subordinate group IDs) allocate SUB_GID_COUNT
241 unused group IDs from the range SUB_GID_MIN to SUB_GID_MAX for each
242 new user.
243 The default values for SUB_GID_MIN, SUB_GID_MAX, SUB_GID_COUNT are
245 respectively 100000, 600100000 and 10000.
246 SUB_UID_MIN (number), SUB_UID_MAX (number), SUB_UID_COUNT (number)
248 If /etc/subuid exists, the commands useradd and newusers (unless
249 the user already have subordinate user IDs) allocate SUB_UID_COUNT
250 unused user IDs from the range SUB_UID_MIN to SUB_UID_MAX for each
251 new user.
252 The default values for SUB_UID_MIN, SUB_UID_MAX, SUB_UID_COUNT are
254 respectively 100000, 600100000 and 10000.
255 SYS_GID_MAX (number), SYS_GID_MIN (number)
257 Range of group IDs used for the creation of system groups by
258 useradd, groupadd, or newusers.
259 The default value for SYS_GID_MIN (resp. SYS_GID_MAX) is 101
261 (resp. GID_MIN-1).
262 SYS_UID_MAX (number), SYS_UID_MIN (number)
264 Range of user IDs used for the creation of system users by useradd
265 or newusers.
266 The default value for SYS_UID_MIN (resp. SYS_UID_MAX) is 101
268 (resp. UID_MIN-1).
269 UID_MAX (number), UID_MIN (number)
271 Range of user IDs used for the creation of regular users by useradd
272 or newusers.
273 The default value for UID_MIN (resp. UID_MAX) is 1000 (resp.
275 60000).
276 UMASK (number)
278 The file mode creation mask is initialized to this value. If not
279 specified, the mask will be initialized to 022.
280 useradd and newusers use this mask to set the mode of the home
282 directory they create
283 It is also used by login to define users' initial umask. Note that
285 this mask can be overridden by the user's GECOS line (if
286 QUOTAS_ENAB is set) or by the specification of a limit with the K
287 identifier in limits(5).
288
290 /etc/passwd
291 User account information.
292 /etc/shadow
294 Secure user account information.
295 /etc/group
297 Group account information.
298 /etc/gshadow
300 Secure group account information.
301 /etc/login.defs
303 Shadow password suite configuration.
304 /etc/subgid
306 Per user subordinate group IDs.
307 /etc/subuid
309 Per user subordinate user IDs.
310
312 login.defs(5), passwd(1), subgid(5), subuid(5), useradd(8).
313shadow-utils 4.6 05/11/2019 NEWUSERS(8)