'\" t
.\"     Title: newusers
.\"    Author: Julianne Frances Haugh
.\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets v1.79.1 <http://docbook.sf.net/>
.\"      Date: 07/27/2018
.\"    Manual: System Management Commands
.\"    Source: shadow-utils 4.5
.\"  Language: English
.\"
.TH "NEWUSERS" "8" "07/27/2018" "shadow\-utils 4\&.5" "System Management Commands"
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.SH "NAME"
newusers \- update and create new users in batch
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.HP \w'\fBnewusers\fR\ 'u
\fBnewusers\fR [\fIoptions\fR] [\fIfile\fR]
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.PP
The
\fBnewusers\fR
command reads a
\fIfile\fR
(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
\fBpasswd\fR(5)) with the exceptions explained below:
.PP
pw_name:pw_passwd:pw_uid:pw_gid:pw_gecos:pw_dir:pw_shell
.PP
\fIpw_name\fR
.RS 4
This is the name of the user\&.
.sp
It can be the name of a new user or the name of an existing user (or a user created before by
\fBnewusers\fR)\&. In case of an existing user, the user\*(Aqs information will be changed, otherwise a new user will be created\&.
.RE
.PP
\fIpw_passwd\fR
.RS 4
This field will be encrypted and used as the new value of the encrypted password\&.
.RE
.PP
\fIpw_uid\fR
.RS 4
This field is used to define the UID of the user\&.
.sp
If the field is empty, a new (unused) UID will be defined automatically by
\fBnewusers\fR\&.
.sp
If this field contains a number, this number will be used as the UID\&.
.sp
If this field contains the name of an existing user (or the name of a user created before by
\fBnewusers\fR), the UID of the specified user will be used\&.
.sp
If the UID of an existing user is changed, the files ownership of the user\*(Aqs file should be fixed manually\&.
.RE
.PP
\fIpw_gid\fR
.RS 4
This field is used to define the primary group ID for the user\&.
.sp
If this field contains the name of an existing group (or a group created before by
\fBnewusers\fR), the GID of this group will be used as the primary group ID for the user\&.
.sp
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\&.
.sp
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
\fBnewusers\fR
to be used as the primary group ID for the user and as the GID for the new group\&.
.sp
If this field contains the name of a group which does not exist (and was not created before by
\fBnewusers\fR), a new group will be created with the specified name and a GID will be automatically defined by
\fBnewusers\fR
to be used as the primary group ID for the user and GID for the new group\&.
.RE
.PP
\fIpw_gecos\fR
.RS 4
This field is copied in the GECOS field of the user\&.
.RE
.PP
\fIpw_dir\fR
.RS 4
This field is used to define the home directory of the user\&.
.sp
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\&.
.sp
If the home directory of an existing user is changed,
\fBnewusers\fR
does not move or copy the content of the old directory to the new location\&. This should be done manually\&.
.RE
.PP
\fIpw_shell\fR
.RS 4
This field defines the shell of the user\&. No checks are performed on this field\&.
.RE
.PP
\fBnewusers\fR
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\&.
.PP
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\&.
.PP
This command is intended to be used in a large system environment where many accounts are updated at a single time\&.
.SH "OPTIONS"
.PP
The options which apply to the
\fBnewusers\fR
command are:
.PP
\fB\-h\fR, \fB\-\-help\fR
.RS 4
Display help message and exit\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-r\fR, \fB\-\-system\fR
.RS 4
Create a system account\&.
.sp
System users will be created with no aging information in
/etc/shadow, and their numeric identifiers are chosen in the
\fBSYS_UID_MIN\fR\-\fBSYS_UID_MAX\fR
range, defined in
login\&.defs, instead of
\fBUID_MIN\fR\-\fBUID_MAX\fR
(and their
\fBGID\fR
counterparts for the creation of groups)\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-R\fR, \fB\-\-root\fR\ \&\fICHROOT_DIR\fR
.RS 4
Apply changes in the
\fICHROOT_DIR\fR
directory and use the configuration files from the
\fICHROOT_DIR\fR
directory\&.
.RE
.SH "CAVEATS"
.PP
The input file must be protected since it contains unencrypted passwords\&.
.SH "CONFIGURATION"
.PP
The following configuration variables in
/etc/login\&.defs
change the behavior of this tool:
.PP
\fBGID_MAX\fR (number), \fBGID_MIN\fR (number)
.RS 4
Range of group IDs used for the creation of regular groups by
\fBuseradd\fR,
\fBgroupadd\fR, or
\fBnewusers\fR\&.
.sp
The default value for
\fBGID_MIN\fR
(resp\&.
\fBGID_MAX\fR) is 1000 (resp\&. 60000)\&.
.RE
.PP
\fBMAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP\fR (number)
.RS 4
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)\&.
.sp
The default value is 0, meaning that there are no limits in the number of members in a group\&.
.sp
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\&.
.sp
If you need to enforce such limit, you can use 25\&.
.sp
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\&.
.RE
.PP
\fBPASS_MAX_DAYS\fR (number)
.RS 4
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)\&.
.RE
.PP
\fBPASS_MIN_DAYS\fR (number)
.RS 4
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)\&.
.RE
.PP
\fBPASS_WARN_AGE\fR (number)
.RS 4
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\&.
.RE
.PP
\fBSUB_GID_MIN\fR (number), \fBSUB_GID_MAX\fR (number), \fBSUB_GID_COUNT\fR (number)
.RS 4
If
/etc/subuid
exists, the commands
\fBuseradd\fR
and
\fBnewusers\fR
(unless the user already have subordinate group IDs) allocate
\fBSUB_GID_COUNT\fR
unused group IDs from the range
\fBSUB_GID_MIN\fR
to
\fBSUB_GID_MAX\fR
for each new user\&.
.sp
The default values for
\fBSUB_GID_MIN\fR,
\fBSUB_GID_MAX\fR,
\fBSUB_GID_COUNT\fR
are respectively 100000, 600100000 and 10000\&.
.RE
.PP
\fBSUB_UID_MIN\fR (number), \fBSUB_UID_MAX\fR (number), \fBSUB_UID_COUNT\fR (number)
.RS 4
If
/etc/subuid
exists, the commands
\fBuseradd\fR
and
\fBnewusers\fR
(unless the user already have subordinate user IDs) allocate
\fBSUB_UID_COUNT\fR
unused user IDs from the range
\fBSUB_UID_MIN\fR
to
\fBSUB_UID_MAX\fR
for each new user\&.
.sp
The default values for
\fBSUB_UID_MIN\fR,
\fBSUB_UID_MAX\fR,
\fBSUB_UID_COUNT\fR
are respectively 100000, 600100000 and 10000\&.
.RE
.PP
\fBSYS_GID_MAX\fR (number), \fBSYS_GID_MIN\fR (number)
.RS 4
Range of group IDs used for the creation of system groups by
\fBuseradd\fR,
\fBgroupadd\fR, or
\fBnewusers\fR\&.
.sp
The default value for
\fBSYS_GID_MIN\fR
(resp\&.
\fBSYS_GID_MAX\fR) is 101 (resp\&.
\fBGID_MIN\fR\-1)\&.
.RE
.PP
\fBSYS_UID_MAX\fR (number), \fBSYS_UID_MIN\fR (number)
.RS 4
Range of user IDs used for the creation of system users by
\fBuseradd\fR
or
\fBnewusers\fR\&.
.sp
The default value for
\fBSYS_UID_MIN\fR
(resp\&.
\fBSYS_UID_MAX\fR) is 101 (resp\&.
\fBUID_MIN\fR\-1)\&.
.RE
.PP
\fBUID_MAX\fR (number), \fBUID_MIN\fR (number)
.RS 4
Range of user IDs used for the creation of regular users by
\fBuseradd\fR
or
\fBnewusers\fR\&.
.sp
The default value for
\fBUID_MIN\fR
(resp\&.
\fBUID_MAX\fR) is 1000 (resp\&. 60000)\&.
.RE
.PP
\fBUMASK\fR (number)
.RS 4
The file mode creation mask is initialized to this value\&. If not specified, the mask will be initialized to 022\&.
.sp
\fBuseradd\fR
and
\fBnewusers\fR
use this mask to set the mode of the home directory they create
.sp
It is also used by
\fBpam_umask\fR
as the default umask value\&.
.RE
.SH "FILES"
.PP
/etc/passwd
.RS 4
User account information\&.
.RE
.PP
/etc/shadow
.RS 4
Secure user account information\&.
.RE
.PP
/etc/group
.RS 4
Group account information\&.
.RE
.PP
/etc/gshadow
.RS 4
Secure group account information\&.
.RE
.PP
/etc/login\&.defs
.RS 4
Shadow password suite configuration\&.
.RE
.PP
/etc/pam\&.d/newusers
.RS 4
PAM configuration for
\fBnewusers\fR\&.
.RE
.PP
/etc/subgid
.RS 4
Per user subordinate group IDs\&.
.RE
.PP
/etc/subuid
.RS 4
Per user subordinate user IDs\&.
.RE
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.PP
\fBlogin.defs\fR(5),
\fBpasswd\fR(1),
\fBsubgid\fR(5), \fBsubuid\fR(5),
\fBuseradd\fR(8)\&.