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NAME

       deluser, delgroup - remove a user or group from the system

SYNOPSIS

       deluser   [options]   [--force]   [--remove-home]  [--remove-all-files]
       [--backup] [--backup-to DIR] user

       deluser --group [options] group
       delgroup [options] [--only-if-empty] group

       deluser [options] user group

   COMMON OPTIONS
       [--quiet] [--system] [--help] [--version] [--conf FILE]

DESCRIPTION

       deluser and delgroup remove users and groups from the system  according
       to    command   line   options   and   configuration   information   in
       /etc/deluser.conf and /etc/adduser.conf.   They  are  friendlier  front
       ends  to the userdel and groupdel programs, removing the home directory
       as option or even all files on the system  owned  by  the  user  to  be
       removed,  running  a  custom  script,  and other features.  deluser and
       delgroup can be run in one of three modes:

   Remove a normal user
       If called with one non-option argument and without the --group  option,
       deluser will remove a normal user.

       By  default,  deluser  will  remove  the user without removing the home
       directory, the mail spool  or any other files on the  system  owned  by
       the  user.  Removing  the home directory and mail spool can be achieved
       using the --remove-home option.

       The --remove-all-files option removes all files on the system owned  by
       the  user.  Note  that  if you activate both options --remove-home will
       have no effect because all files including the home directory and  mail
       spool are already covered by the --remove-all-files option.

       If  you  want to backup all files before deleting them you can activate
       the --backup option which will create a file username.tar(.gz|.bz2)  in
       the  directory  specified  by the --backup-to option (defaulting to the
       current working directory). Both the remove and backup options can also
       be  activated  for default in the configuration file /etc/deluser.conf.
       See deluser.conf(5) for details.

       If you want to remove the root account (uid 0), then  use  the  --force
       parameter; this may prevent to remove the root user by accident.

       If  the  file /usr/local/sbin/deluser.local exists, it will be executed
       after the user account has been  removed  in  order  to  do  any  local
       cleanup. The arguments passed to deluser.local are:
       username uid gid home-directory

   Remove a group
       If  deluser is called with the --group option, or delgroup is called, a
       group will be removed.

       Warning: The primary group of an existing user cannot be removed.

       If the option --only-if-empty is given, the group won’t be  removed  if
       it has any members left.

   Remove a user from a specific group
       If  called  with  two  non-option arguments, deluser will remove a user
       from a specific group.

OPTIONS

       --conf FILE
              Use FILE instead of  the  default  files  /etc/deluser.conf  and
              /etc/adduser.conf

       --group
              Remove  a  group.  This  is the default action if the program is
              invoked as delgroup.

       --help Display brief instructions.

       --quiet
              Suppress progress messages.

       --system
              Only delete if user/group is a system  user/group.  This  avoids
              accidentally  deleting non-system users/groups. Additionally, if
              the user does not exist, no error value is returned. This option
              is mainly for use in Debian package maintainer scripts.

       --backup
              Backup  all  files  contained in the userhome and the mailspool-
              file to a file named /$user.tar.bz2 or /$user.tar.gz.

       --backup-to
              Place the backup files not in / but in the  directory  specified
              by this parameter. This implicitly sets --backup also.

       --remove-home
              Remove  the  home  directory  of  the user and its mailspool. If
              --backup is  specified,  the  files  are  deleted  after  having
              performed the backup.

       --remove-all-files
              Remove  all  files  from  the  system  owned by this user. Note:
              --remove-home does not have an effect any more. If  --backup  is
              specified,  the  files  are  deleted  after having performed the
              backup.

       --version
              Display version and copyright information.

RETURN VALUE

       0      The action was successfully executed.

       1      The user to delete was not  a  system  account.  No  action  was
              performed.

       2      There is no such user. No action was performed.

       3      There is no such group. No action was performed.

       4      Internal error. No action was performed.

       5      The group to delete is not empty. No action was performed.

       6      The  user  does not belong to the specified group. No action was
              performed.

       7      You cannot remove a user from its primary group. No  action  was
              performed.

       8      The  required perl-package ’perl modules’ is not installed. This
              package is required to perform the requested actions. No  action
              was performed.

       9      For  removing  the  root  account  the  parameter  "--force"  is
              required. No action was performed.

FILES

       /etc/deluser.conf

SEE ALSO

       deluser.conf(5), adduser(8), userdel(8), groupdel(8)

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 2000 Roland Bauerschmidt.  Modifications  (C)  2004  Marc
       Haber and Joerg Hoh.  This manpage and the deluser program are based on
       adduser which is:
       Copyright (C) 1997, 1998, 1999 Guy Maor.
       Copyright (C) 1995 Ted Hajek, with  a  great  deal  borrowed  from  the
       original Debian adduser
       Copyright  (C) 1994 Ian Murdock.  deluser is free software; see the GNU
       General Public Licence version  2  or  later  for  copying  conditions.
       There is no warranty.