shadow/man/newusers.8.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V4.5//EN"
  "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [
<!ENTITY ENCRYPT_METHOD        SYSTEM "login.defs.d/ENCRYPT_METHOD.xml">
<!ENTITY GID_MAX               SYSTEM "login.defs.d/GID_MAX.xml">
<!ENTITY MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP SYSTEM "login.defs.d/MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP.xml">
<!ENTITY MD5_CRYPT_ENAB        SYSTEM "login.defs.d/MD5_CRYPT_ENAB.xml">
<!ENTITY PASS_MAX_DAYS         SYSTEM "login.defs.d/PASS_MAX_DAYS.xml">
<!ENTITY PASS_MIN_DAYS         SYSTEM "login.defs.d/PASS_MIN_DAYS.xml">
<!ENTITY PASS_WARN_AGE         SYSTEM "login.defs.d/PASS_WARN_AGE.xml">
<!ENTITY SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS  SYSTEM "login.defs.d/SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS.xml">
<!ENTITY SYS_GID_MAX           SYSTEM "login.defs.d/SYS_GID_MAX.xml">
<!ENTITY SYS_UID_MAX           SYSTEM "login.defs.d/SYS_UID_MAX.xml">
<!ENTITY UID_MAX               SYSTEM "login.defs.d/UID_MAX.xml">
<!ENTITY UMASK                 SYSTEM "login.defs.d/UMASK.xml">
<!-- SHADOW-CONFIG-HERE -->
]>

<refentry id='newusers.8'>
  <!-- $Id$ -->
  <refentryinfo>
    <author>
      <firstname>Julianne Frances</firstname>
      <surname>Haugh</surname>
      <contrib>Creation, 1991</contrib>
    </author>
    <author>
      <firstname>Thomas</firstname>
      <surname>Kłoczko</surname>
      <email>kloczek@pld.org.pl</email>
      <contrib>shadow-utils maintainer, 2000 - 2007</contrib>
    </author>
    <author>
      <firstname>Nicolas</firstname>
      <surname>François</surname>
      <email>nicolas.francois@centraliens.net</email>
      <contrib>shadow-utils maintainer, 2007 - now</contrib>
    </author>
  </refentryinfo>
  <refmeta>
    <refentrytitle>newusers</refentrytitle>
    <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
    <refmiscinfo class="sectdesc">System Management Commands</refmiscinfo>
    <refmiscinfo class="source">shadow-utils</refmiscinfo>
    <refmiscinfo class="version">&SHADOW_UTILS_VERSION;</refmiscinfo>
  </refmeta>
  <refnamediv id='name'>
    <refname>newusers</refname>
    <refpurpose>update and create new users in batch</refpurpose>
  </refnamediv>
  <!-- body begins here -->
  <refsynopsisdiv id='synopsis'>
    <cmdsynopsis>
      <command>newusers</command>
      <arg choice='opt'>
	<replaceable>options</replaceable>
      </arg>
      <arg choice='opt'>
	<replaceable>file</replaceable>
      </arg>
    </cmdsynopsis>
  </refsynopsisdiv>

  <refsect1 id='description'>
    <title>DESCRIPTION</title>
    <para>
      The <command>newusers</command> command reads a <replaceable>file</replaceable> (or the standard input by default)
      and uses this information to update a set
      of existing users or to create new users. Each line is in the same format
      as the standard password file (see
      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>passwd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
      </citerefentry>) with the exceptions explained below:
    </para>
    <para>pw_name:pw_passwd:pw_uid:pw_gid:pw_gecos:pw_dir:pw_shell</para>

    <variablelist remap='IP'>
      <varlistentry>
	<term>
	  <emphasis remap='I'>pw_name</emphasis>
	</term>
	<listitem>
	  <para>
	    This is the name of the user.
	  </para>
	  <para>
	    It can be the name of a new user or the name of an existing
	    user (or an user created before by
	    <command>newusers</command>).  In case of an existing user,
	    the user's information will be changed, otherwise a new user
	    will be created.
	  </para>
	</listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      <varlistentry>
	<term>
	  <emphasis remap='I'>pw_passwd</emphasis>
	</term>
	<listitem>
	  <para>
	    This field will be encrypted and used as the new value of the
	    encrypted password.
	  </para>
	</listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      <varlistentry>
	<term>
	  <emphasis remap='I'>pw_uid</emphasis>
	</term>
	<listitem>
	  <para>
	    This field is used to define the UID of the user.
	  </para>
	  <para>
	    If the field is empty, an new (unused) UID will be defined
	    automatically by <command>newusers</command>.
	  </para>
	  <para>
	    If this field contains a number, this number will be used as
	    the UID.
	  </para>
	  <para>
	    If this field contains the name of an existing user (or the
	    name of an user created before by
	    <command>newusers</command>), the UID of the specified user
	    will be used.
	  </para>
	  <para>
	    If the UID of an existing user is changed, the files ownership
	    of the user's file should be fixed manually.
	  </para>
	</listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      <varlistentry>
	<term>
	  <emphasis remap='I'>pw_gid</emphasis>
	</term>
	<listitem>
	  <para>
	    This field is used to define the primary group ID for the user.
	  </para>
	  <para>
	    If this field contains the name of an existing group (or a
	    group created before by <command>newusers</command>), the GID
	    of this group will be used as the primary group ID for the
	    user.
	  </para>
	  <para>
	    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.
	  </para>
	  <para>
	    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
	    <command>newusers</command> to be used as the primary group ID
	    for the user and as the GID for the new group.
	  </para>
	  <para>
	    If this field contains the name of a group which does not
	    exist (and was not created before by
	    <command>newusers</command>), a new group will be created with
	    the specified name and a GID will be automatically defined by
	    <command>newusers</command> to be used as the primary group ID
	    for the user and GID for the new group.
	  </para>
	</listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      <varlistentry>
	<term>
	  <emphasis remap='I'>pw_gecos</emphasis>
	</term>
	<listitem>
	  <para>
	    This field is copied in the GECOS field of the user.
	  </para>
	</listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      <varlistentry>
	<term>
	  <emphasis remap='I'>pw_dir</emphasis>
	</term>
	<listitem>
	  <para>
	    This field is used to define the home directory of the user.
	  </para>
	  <para>
	    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.
	  </para>
	  <para>
	    If the home directory of an existing user is changed,
	    <command>newusers</command> does not move or copy the content
	    of the old directory to the new location. This should be done
	    manually.
	  </para>
	</listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      <varlistentry>
	<term>
	  <emphasis remap='I'>pw_shell</emphasis>
	</term>
	<listitem>
	  <para>
	    This field defines the shell of the user.
	    No checks are performed on this field.
	  </para>
	</listitem>
      </varlistentry>
    </variablelist>

    <para>
      <command>newusers</command> 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.
    </para>
    <para condition="pam">
      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.
    </para>

    <para>
      This command is intended to be used in a large system environment
      where many accounts are updated at a single time.
    </para>
  </refsect1>

  <refsect1 id='options'>
    <title>OPTIONS</title>
    <para>
      The options which apply to the <command>newusers</command> command are:
    </para>
    <variablelist remap='IP' condition="no_pam">
      <varlistentry>
	<term><option>-c</option>, <option>--crypt-method</option></term>
	<listitem>
	  <para>Use the specified method to encrypt the passwords.</para>
	  <para>
	    The available methods are DES, MD5, NONE, and SHA256 or SHA512
	    if your libc support these methods.
	  </para>
	</listitem>
      </varlistentry>
    </variablelist>
    <variablelist remap='IP'>
      <varlistentry>
	<term><option>-h</option>, <option>--help</option></term>
	<listitem>
	  <para>Display help message and exit.</para>
	</listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      <varlistentry>
	<term>
	  <option>-r</option>, <option>--system</option>
	</term>
	<listitem>
	  <para>
	    Create a system account.
	  </para>
	  <para>
	    System users will be created with no aging information in
	    <filename>/etc/shadow</filename>, and their numeric
	    identifiers are chosen in the
	    <option>SYS_UID_MIN</option>-<option>SYS_UID_MAX</option>
	    range, defined in <filename>login.defs</filename>, instead of
	    <option>UID_MIN</option>-<option>UID_MAX</option> (and their
	    <option>GID</option> counterparts for the creation of groups).
	  </para>
	</listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      <varlistentry>
	<term>
	  <option>-R</option>, <option>--root</option>
	  <replaceable>CHROOT_DIR</replaceable>
	</term>
	<listitem>
	  <para>
	    Apply changes in the <replaceable>CHROOT_DIR</replaceable>
	    directory and use the configuration files from the
	    <replaceable>CHROOT_DIR</replaceable> directory.
	  </para>
	</listitem>
      </varlistentry>
    </variablelist>
    <variablelist remap='IP' condition="no_pam">
      <varlistentry condition="sha_crypt">
	<term><option>-s</option>, <option>--sha-rounds</option></term>
	<listitem>
	  <para>
	    Use the specified number of rounds to encrypt the passwords.
	  </para>
	  <para>
	    The value 0 means that the system will choose the default
	    number of rounds for the crypt method (5000).
	  </para>
	  <para>
	    A minimal value of 1000 and a maximal value of 999,999,999
	    will be enforced.
	  </para>
	  <para>
	    You can only use this option with the SHA256 or SHA512
	    crypt method.
	  </para>
	  <para>
	    By default, the number of rounds is defined by the
	    SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS and SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS variables in
	    <filename>/etc/login.defs</filename>.
	  </para>
	</listitem>
      </varlistentry>
    </variablelist>
  </refsect1>

  <refsect1 id='caveats'>
    <title>CAVEATS</title>
    <para>
      The input file must be protected since it contains unencrypted
      passwords.
    </para>
    <para condition="no_pam">
      You should make sure the passwords and the encryption method respect
      the system's password policy.
    </para>
  </refsect1>

  <refsect1 id='configuration'>
    <title>CONFIGURATION</title>
    <para>
      The following configuration variables in
      <filename>/etc/login.defs</filename> change the behavior of this
      tool:
    </para>
    <variablelist condition="no_pam">
      &ENCRYPT_METHOD;
    </variablelist>
    <variablelist>
      &GID_MAX; <!-- documents also GID_MIN -->
      &MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP;
    </variablelist>
    <variablelist condition="no_pam">
      &MD5_CRYPT_ENAB;
    </variablelist>
    <variablelist>
      &PASS_MAX_DAYS;
      &PASS_MIN_DAYS;
      &PASS_WARN_AGE;
    </variablelist>
    <variablelist condition="no_pam">
      &SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS; <!-- documents also SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS-->
    </variablelist>
    <variablelist>
      &SYS_GID_MAX; <!-- documents also SYS_GID_MIN -->
      &SYS_UID_MAX; <!-- documents also SYS_UID_MIN -->
      &UID_MAX; <!-- documents also UID_MIN -->
      &UMASK;
    </variablelist>
  </refsect1>

  <refsect1 id='files'>
    <title>FILES</title>
    <variablelist>
      <varlistentry>
	<term><filename>/etc/passwd</filename></term>
	<listitem>
	  <para>User account information.</para>
	</listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      <varlistentry>
	<term><filename>/etc/shadow</filename></term>
	<listitem>
	  <para>Secure user account information.</para>
	</listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      <varlistentry>
	<term><filename>/etc/group</filename></term>
	<listitem>
	  <para>Group account information.</para>
	</listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      <varlistentry condition="gshadow">
	<term><filename>/etc/gshadow</filename></term>
	<listitem>
	  <para>Secure group account information.</para>
	</listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      <varlistentry>
	<term><filename>/etc/login.defs</filename></term>
	<listitem>
	  <para>Shadow password suite configuration.</para>
	</listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      <varlistentry condition="pam">
	<term><filename>/etc/pam.d/newusers</filename></term>
	<listitem>
	  <para>PAM configuration for <command>newusers</command>.</para>
	</listitem>
      </varlistentry>
    </variablelist>
  </refsect1>

  <refsect1 id='see_also'>
    <title>SEE ALSO</title>
    <para>
      <citerefentry>
	<refentrytitle>login.defs</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
      </citerefentry>,
      <citerefentry>
	<refentrytitle>passwd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
      </citerefentry>,
      <citerefentry>
	<refentrytitle>useradd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
      </citerefentry>.
    </para>
  </refsect1>
</refentry>