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
29 inconsistent state.
30 -h, --help
32 Display help message and exit.
33 -r, --remove
35 Files in the user's home directory will be removed along with the
36 home directory itself and the user's mail spool. Files located in
37 other file systems will have to be searched for and deleted
38 manually.
39 The mail spool is defined by the MAIL_DIR variable in the
41 login.defs file.
42 -R, --root CHROOT_DIR
44 Apply changes in the CHROOT_DIR directory and use the configuration
45 files from the CHROOT_DIR directory.
46 -P, --prefix PREFIX_DIR
48 Apply changes in the PREFIX_DIR directory and use the configuration
49 files from the PREFIX_DIR directory. This option does not chroot
50 and is intended for preparing a cross-compilation target. Some
51 limitations: NIS and LDAP users/groups are not verified. PAM
52 authentication is using the host files. No SELINUX support.
53 -Z, --selinux-user
55 Remove any SELinux user mapping for the user's login.
56
58 The following configuration variables in /etc/login.defs change the
59 behavior of this tool:
60 MAIL_DIR (string)
62 The mail spool directory. This is needed to manipulate the mailbox
63 when its corresponding user account is modified or deleted. If not
64 specified, a compile-time default is used.
65 MAIL_FILE (string)
67 Defines the location of the users mail spool files relatively to
68 their home directory.
69 The MAIL_DIR and MAIL_FILE variables are used by useradd, usermod, and
71 userdel to create, move, or delete the user's mail spool.
72 If MAIL_CHECK_ENAB is set to yes, they are also used to define the MAIL
74 environment variable.
75 MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP (number)
77 Maximum members per group entry. When the maximum is reached, a new
78 group entry (line) is started in /etc/group (with the same name,
79 same password, and same GID).
80 The default value is 0, meaning that there are no limits in the
82 number of members in a group.
83 This feature (split group) permits to limit the length of lines in
85 the group file. This is useful to make sure that lines for NIS
86 groups are not larger than 1024 characters.
87 If you need to enforce such limit, you can use 25.
89 Note: split groups may not be supported by all tools (even in the
91 Shadow toolsuite). You should not use this variable unless you
92 really need it.
93 USERDEL_CMD (string)
95 If defined, this command is run when removing a user. It should
96 remove any at/cron/print jobs etc. owned by the user to be removed
97 (passed as the first argument).
98 The return code of the script is not taken into account.
100 Here is an example script, which removes the user's cron, at and
102 print jobs:
103 #! /bin/sh
105 # Check for the required argument.
107 if [ $# != 1 ]; then
108 echo "Usage: $0 username"
109 exit 1
110 fi
111 # Remove cron jobs.
113 crontab -r -u $1
114 # Remove at jobs.
116 # Note that it will remove any jobs owned by the same UID,
117 # even if it was shared by a different username.
118 AT_SPOOL_DIR=/var/spool/cron/atjobs
119 find $AT_SPOOL_DIR -name "[^.]*" -type f -user $1 -delete \;
120 # Remove print jobs.
122 lprm $1
123 # All done.
125 exit 0
126 USERGROUPS_ENAB (boolean)
130 Enable setting of the umask group bits to be the same as owner bits
131 (examples: 022 -> 002, 077 -> 007) for non-root users, if the uid
132 is the same as gid, and username is the same as the primary group
133 name.
134 If set to yes, userdel will remove the user's group if it contains
136 no more members, and useradd will create by default a group with
137 the name of the user.
138
140 /etc/group
141 Group account information.
142 /etc/login.defs
144 Shadow password suite configuration.
145 /etc/passwd
147 User account information.
148 /etc/shadow
150 Secure user account information.
151 /etc/shadow-maint/userdel-pre.d/*, /etc/shadow-maint/userdel-post.d/*
153 Run-part files to execute during user deletion. The environment
154 variable ACTION will be populated with userdel and SUBJECT with the
155 username. userdel-pre.d will be executed prior to any user
156 deletion. userdel-post.d will execute after user deletion. If a
157 script exits non-zero then execution will terminate.
158 /etc/subgid
160 Per user subordinate group IDs.
161 /etc/subuid
163 Per user subordinate user IDs.
164
166 The userdel command exits with the following values:
167 0
169 success
170 1
172 can't update password file
173 2
175 invalid command syntax
176 6
178 specified user doesn't exist
179 8
181 user currently logged in
182 10
184 can't update group file
185 12
187 can't remove home directory
188
190 userdel will not allow you to remove an account if there are running
191 processes which belong to this account. In that case, you may have to
192 kill those processes or lock the user's password or account and remove
193 the account later. The -f option can force the deletion of this
194 account.
195 You should manually check all file systems to ensure that no files
197 remain owned by this user.
198 You may not remove any NIS attributes on a NIS client. This must be
200 performed on the NIS server.
201 If USERGROUPS_ENAB is defined to yes in /etc/login.defs, userdel will
203 delete the group with the same name as the user. To avoid
204 inconsistencies in the passwd and group databases, userdel will check
205 that this group is not used as a primary group for another user, and
206 will just warn without deleting the group otherwise. The -f option can
207 force the deletion of this group.
208
210 chfn(1), chsh(1), passwd(1), login.defs(5), gpasswd(8), groupadd(8),
211 groupdel(8), groupmod(8), subgid(5), subuid(5), useradd(8), usermod(8).
212shadow-utils 4.9 11/19/2021 USERDEL(8)