NAME
newusers - update and create new users in batch
SYNOPSIS
newusers [options new_users]
DESCRIPTION
The newusers command reads a file of user name and clear-text password
pairs and uses this information to update a group of existing users or
to create new users. Each line is in the same format as the standard
password file (see passwd(5)) with the exceptions explained below:
pw_name:pw_passwd:pw_uid:pw_gid:pw_gecos:pw_dir:pw_shell
pw_name
This is the name of the user.
It can be the name of a new user or the name of an existing user
(or an user created before by newusers). In case of an existing
user, the users information will be changed, otherwise a new user
will be created.
pw_passwd
This field will be encrypted and used as the new value of the
encrypted password.
pw_uid
This field is used to define the UID of the user.
If the field is empty, an new (unused) UID will be defined
automatically by newusers.
If this field contains a number, this number will be used as the
UID.
If this field contains the name of an existing user (or the name of
an user created before by newusers), the UID of the specified user
will be used.
If the UID of an existing user is changed, the files ownership of
the users file should be fixed manually.
pw_gid
This field is used to define the primary group ID for the user.
If this field contains the name of an existing group (or a group
created before by newusers), the GID of this group will be used as
the primary group ID for the user.
If this field is a number, this number will be used as the primary
group ID of the user. If no groups exist with this GID, a new group
will be created with this GID, and the name of the user.
If this field is empty, a new group will be created with the name
of the user and a GID will be automatically defined by newusers to
be used as the primary group ID for the user and as the GID for the
new group.
If this field contains the name of a group which does not exist
(and was not created earlier wbefore by newusers), a new group will
be created with the specified name and a GID will be automatically
defined by newusers to be used as the primary group ID for the user
and Gs the ID for the new group.
pw_gecos
This field is copied in the GECOS field of the user.
pw_dir
This field is used to define the home directory of the user.
If this field does not specify an existing directory, the specified
directory is created, with ownership set to the user being created
or updated and its primary group.
If the home directory of an existing user is changed, newusers does
not move or copy the content of the old directory to the new
location. This should be done manually.
pw_shell
This field defines the shell of the user. No checks are performed
on this field.
newusers first tries to create or change all the specified users, and
then write these changes to the user or group databases. If an error
occurs (except in the final writes to the databases), no changes are
committed to the databases.
During this first pass, users are created with a locked password (and
passwords are not changed for the users which are not created). A
second pass is used to update the passwords using PAM. Failures to
update a password are reported, but will not stop the other password
updates.
This command is intended to be used in a large system environment where
many accounts are updated at a single time.
OPTIONS
The options which apply to the newusers command are:
-h, --help
Display help message and exit.
-r, --system
Create a system account.
System users will be created with no aging information in
/etc/shadow, and their numeric identifiers are choosen in the
SYS_UID_MIN-SYS_UID_MAX range, defined in login.defs, instead of
UID_MIN-UID_MAX (and their GID counterparts for the creation of
groups).
CAVEATS
The input file must be protected since it contains unencrypted
passwords.
CONFIGURATION
The following configuration variables in /etc/login.defs change the
behavior of this tool:
GID_MAX (number), GID_MIN (number)
Range of group IDs used for the creation of regular groups by
useradd, groupadd, or newusers.
MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP (number)
Maximum members per group entry. When the maximum is reached, a new
group entry (line) is started in /etc/group (with the same name,
same password, and same GID).
The default value is 0, meaning that there are no limits in the
number of members in a group.
This feature (split group) permits to limit the length of lines in
the group file. This is useful to make sure that lines for NIS
groups are not larger than 1024 characters.
If you need to enforce such limit, you can use 25.
Note: split groups may not be supported by all tools (even in the
Shadow toolsuite). You should not use this variable unless you
really need it.
PASS_MAX_DAYS (number)
The maximum number of days a password may be used. If the password
is older than this, a password change will be forced. If not
specified, -1 will be assumed (which disables the restriction).
PASS_MIN_DAYS (number)
The minimum number of days allowed between password changes. Any
password changes attempted sooner than this will be rejected. If
not specified, -1 will be assumed (which disables the restriction).
PASS_WARN_AGE (number)
The number of days warning given before a password expires. A zero
means warning is given only upon the day of expiration, a negative
value means no warning is given. If not specified, no warning will
be provided.
SYS_GID_MAX (number), SYS_GID_MIN (number)
Range of group IDs used for the creation of system groups by
useradd, groupadd, or newusers.
SYS_UID_MAX (number), SYS_UID_MIN (number)
Range of user IDs used for the creation of system users by useradd
or newusers.
UID_MAX (number), UID_MIN (number)
Range of user IDs used for the creation of regular users by useradd
or newusers.
UMASK (number)
The file mode creation mask is initialized to this value. If not
specified, the mask will be initialized to 022.
useradd and newusers use this mask to set the mode of the home
directory they create
FILES
/etc/passwd
User account information.
/etc/shadow
Secure user account information.
/etc/group
Group account information.
/etc/gshadow
Secure group account information.
/etc/login.defs
Shadow password suite configuration.
/etc/pam.d/newusers
PAM configuration for newusers.
SEE ALSO
login.defs(5), passwd(1), useradd(8).