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GPASSWD(1) | User Commands | GPASSWD(1) |
NAME¶
gpasswd - administer /etc/group and /etc/gshadowSYNOPSIS¶
gpasswd [option] group
DESCRIPTION¶
The gpasswd command is used to administer /etc/group, and /etc/gshadow. Every group can have administrators, members and a password. System administrators can use the -A option to define group administrator(s) and the -M option to define members. They have all rights of group administrators and members. gpasswd called by a group administrator with a group name only prompts for the new password of the group. If a password is set the members can still use newgrp(1) without a password, and non-members must supply the password.Notes about group passwords¶
Group passwords are an inherent security problem since more than one person is permitted to know the password. However, groups are a useful tool for permitting co-operation between different users.OPTIONS¶
Except for the -A and -M options, the options cannot be combined. The options which apply to the gpasswd command are: -a, --add userAdd the user to the named group.
-d, --delete user
Remove the user from the named group.
-h, --help
Display help message and exit.
-Q, --root CHROOT_DIR
Apply changes in the CHROOT_DIR directory and use
the configuration files from the CHROOT_DIR directory.
-r, --remove-password
Remove the password from the named group. The
group password will be empty. Only group members will be allowed to use
newgrp to join the named group.
-R, --restrict
Restrict the access to the named group. The group
password is set to "!". Only group members with a password will be
allowed to use newgrp to join the named group.
-A, --administrators user,...
Set the list of administrative users.
-M, --members user,...
Set the list of group members.
CAVEATS¶
This tool only operates on the /etc/groupand /etc/gshadow files. Thus you cannot change any NIS or LDAP group. This must be performed on the corresponding server.CONFIGURATION¶
The following configuration variables in /etc/login.defs change the behavior of this tool: ENCRYPT_METHOD (string)This defines the system default encryption algorithm for
encrypting passwords (if no algorithm are specified on the command line).
It can take one of these values: DES (default), MD5,
SHA256, SHA512.
Note: this parameter overrides the MD5_CRYPT_ENAB variable.
Note: This only affect the generation of group passwords. The generation of user
passwords is done by PAM and subject to the PAM configuration. It is
recommended to set this variable consistently with the PAM
configuration.
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.
MD5_CRYPT_ENAB (boolean)
Indicate if passwords must be encrypted using the
MD5-based algorithm. If set to yes, new passwords will be encrypted
using the MD5-based algorithm compatible with the one used by recent releases
of FreeBSD. It supports passwords of unlimited length and longer salt strings.
Set to no if you need to copy encrypted passwords to other systems
which don't understand the new algorithm. Default is no.
This variable is superseded by the ENCRYPT_METHOD variable or by any
command line option used to configure the encryption algorithm.
This variable is deprecated. You should use ENCRYPT_METHOD.
Note: This only affect the generation of group passwords. The generation of user
passwords is done by PAM and subject to the PAM configuration. It is
recommended to set this variable consistently with the PAM
configuration.
SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS (number), SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS (number)
When ENCRYPT_METHOD is set to SHA256 or
SHA512, this defines the number of SHA rounds used by the encryption
algorithm by default (when the number of rounds is not specified on the
command line).
With a lot of rounds, it is more difficult to brute forcing the password. But
note also that more CPU resources will be needed to authenticate users.
If not specified, the libc will choose the default number of rounds (5000).
The values must be inside the 1000-999,999,999 range.
If only one of the SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS or SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS
values is set, then this value will be used.
If SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS > SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS, the highest
value will be used.
Note: This only affect the generation of group passwords. The generation of user
passwords is done by PAM and subject to the PAM configuration. It is
recommended to set this variable consistently with the PAM
configuration.
FILES¶
/etc/groupGroup account information.
/etc/gshadow
Secure group account information.
SEE ALSO¶
newgrp(1), groupadd(8), groupdel(8), groupmod(8), grpck(8), group(5), gshadow(5).05/17/2017 | shadow-utils 4.2 |