1USERDEL(8) System Management Commands USERDEL(8)
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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
45 The following configuration variables in /etc/login.defs change the
46 behavior of this tool:
47 MAIL_DIR (string)
49 The mail spool directory. This is needed to manipulate the mailbox
50 when its corresponding user account is modified or deleted. If not
51 specified, a compile-time default is used.
52 MAIL_FILE (string)
54 Defines the location of the users mail spool files relatively to
55 their home directory.
56 The MAIL_DIR and MAIL_FILE variables are used by useradd, usermod, and
58 userdel to create, move, or delete the user´s mail spool.
59 If MAIL_CHECK_ENAB is set to yes, they are also used to define the MAIL
61 environment variable.
62 MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP (number)
64 Maximum members per group entry. When the maximum is reached, a new
65 group entry (line) is started in /etc/group (with the same name,
66 same password, and same GID).
67 The default value is 0, meaning that there are no limits in the
69 number of members in a group.
70 This feature (split group) permits to limit the length of lines in
72 the group file. This is useful to make sure that lines for NIS
73 groups are not larger than 1024 characters.
74 If you need to enforce such limit, you can use 25.
76 Note: split groups may not be supported by all tools (even in the
78 Shadow toolsuite). You should not use this variable unless you
79 really need it.
80 USERDEL_CMD (string)
82 If defined, this command is run when removing a user. It should
83 remove any at/cron/print jobs etc. owned by the user to be removed
84 (passed as the first argument).
85 The return code of the script is not taken into account.
87 Here is an example script, which removes the user´s cron, at and
89 print jobs:
90 #! /bin/sh
92 # Check for the required argument.
94 if [ $# != 1 ]; then
95 echo "Usage: $0 username"
96 exit 1
97 fi
98 # Remove cron jobs.
100 crontab -r -u $1
101 # Remove at jobs.
103 # Note that it will remove any jobs owned by the same UID,
104 # even if it was shared by a different username.
105 AT_SPOOL_DIR=/var/spool/cron/atjobs
106 find $AT_SPOOL_DIR -name "[^.]*" -type f -user $1 -delete \;
107 # Remove print jobs.
109 lprm $1
110 # All done.
112 exit 0
113 USERGROUPS_ENAB (boolean)
117 Enable setting of the umask group bits to be the same as owner bits
118 (examples: 022 -> 002, 077 -> 007) for non-root users, if the uid
119 is the same as gid, and username is the same as the primary group
120 name.
121 If set to yes, userdel will remove the user´s group if it contains
123 no more members, and useradd will create by default a group with
124 the name of the user.
125
127 /etc/group
128 Group account information.
129 /etc/login.defs
131 Shadow password suite configuration.
132 /etc/passwd
134 User account information.
135 /etc/shadow
137 Secure user account information.
138
140 The userdel command exits with the following values:
141 0
143 success
144 1
146 can´t update password file
147 2
149 invalid command syntax
150 6
152 specified user doesn´t exist
153 8
155 user currently logged in
156 10
158 can´t update group file
159 12
161 can´t remove home directory
162
164 userdel will not allow you to remove an account if there are running
165 processes which belong to this account. In that case, you may have to
166 kill those processes or lock the user´s password or account and remove
167 the account later. The -f option can force the deletion of this
168 account.
169 You should manually check all file systems to ensure that no files
171 remain owned by this user.
172 You may not remove any NIS attributes on a NIS client. This must be
174 performed on the NIS server.
175 If USERGROUPS_ENAB is defined to yes in /etc/login.defs, userdel will
177 delete the group with the same name as the user. To avoid
178 inconsistencies in the passwd and group databases, userdel will check
179 that this group is not used as a primary group for another user, and
180 will just warn without deleting the group otherwise. The -f option can
181 force the deletion of this group.
182
184 chfn(1), chsh(1), passwd(1), login.defs(5), gpasswd(8), groupadd(8),
185 groupdel(8), groupmod(8), useradd(8), usermod(8).
186System Management Commands 07/24/2009 USERDEL(8)