USERADD(8)              NetBSD System Manager's Manual              USERADD(8)

NAME
     useradd -- add a user to the system

SYNOPSIS
     useradd -D [-F] [-b base-dir] [-e expiry-time] [-f inactive-time]
             [-g gid | name | =uid] [-k skel-dir] [-L login-class]
             [-M home-perm] [-r lowuid..highuid] [-s shell]
     useradd [-moSv] [-b base-dir] [-c comment] [-d home-dir] [-e expiry-time]
             [-f inactive-time] [-G secondary-group] [-g gid | name | =uid]
             [-k skel-dir] [-L login-class] [-M home-perm] [-p password]
             [-r lowuid..highuid] [-s shell] [-u uid] user

DESCRIPTION
     The useradd utility adds a user to the system, creating and populating a
     home directory if necessary.  Any skeleton files will be provided for the
     new user if they exist in the skel-dir directory (see the -k option).
     Default values for the base directory, the time of password expiry, the
     time of account expiry, primary group, the skeleton directory, the range
     from which the uid will be allocated, and default login shell can be pro-
     vided in the /etc/usermgmt.conf file, which, if running as root, is cre-
     ated using the built-in defaults if it does not exist.

     The first form of the command shown above (using the -D option) sets and
     displays the defaults for the useradd utility.

     See user(8) for more information about EXTENSIONS.

     -b base-dir
             Set the default base directory.  This is the directory to which
             the user directory is added, which will be created if the -m
             option is specified and no -d option is specified.

     -D      without any further options, -D will show the current defaults
             which will be used by the useradd utility.  Together with one of
             the options shown for the first version of the command, -D will
             set the default to be the new value.  See usermgmt.conf(5) for
             more information.

     -e expiry-time
             Set the time at which the new user accounts will expire.  It
             should be entered in the form ``month day year'', where month is
             the month name (the first three characters are sufficient), day
             is the day of the month, and year is the year.  Time in seconds
             since the epoch (UTC) is also valid.  A value of 0 can be used to
             disable this feature.

     -F      Force the user to change their password upon next login.

     -f inactive-time
             Set the time at which passwords for the new user accounts will
             expire.  Also see the -e option above.

     -g gid | groupname | =uid
             Set the default group for new users.

     -k skel-dir
             Set the skeleton directory in which to find files with which to
             populate new users' home directories.

     -L login-class
             Set the default login class for new users.  See login.conf(5) for
             more information on user login classes.  This option is included
             if built with EXTENSIONS.

     -M home-perm
             sets the default permissions of the newly created home directory
             if -m is given.  The permission is specified as an octal number,
             with or without a leading zero.

     -r lowuid..highuid
             Set the low and high bounds of uid ranges for new users.  A new
             user can only be created if there are uids which can be assigned
             from one of the free ranges.  This option is included if built
             with EXTENSIONS.

     -s shell
             Set the default login shell for new users.

     In the second form of the command, after setting any defaults, and then
     reading values from /etc/usermgmt.conf, the following command line
     options are processed:

     -b base-directory
             Set the base directory name, in which the user's new home direc-
             tory will be created, should the -m option be specified.

     -c comment
             Set the comment field (also, for historical reasons known as the
             GECOS field) which will be added for the user, and typically will
             include the user's full name, and, perhaps, contact information
             for the user.

     -d home-directory
             Set the home directory which will be created and populated for
             the user, should the -m option be specified.

     -e expiry-time
             Set the time at which the current password will expire for new
             users.  It should be entered in the form ``month day year'',
             where month is the month name (the first three characters are
             sufficient), day is the day of the month, and year is the year.
             Time in seconds since the epoch (UTC) is also valid.  A value of
             0 can be used to disable this feature.  See passwd(5) for more
             details.

     -f inactive-time
             Set the time at which new user accounts will expire.  Also see
             the -e option above.

     -G secondary-group
             Add the user to the secondary group secondary-group in the
             /etc/group file.

     -g gid | name | =uid
             Give the group name or identifier to be used for the new user's
             primary group.  If this is `=uid', then a uid and gid will be
             picked which are both unique and the same, and a line added to
             /etc/group to describe the new group.

     -k skeleton directory
             Give the skeleton directory in which to find files with which to
             populate the new user's home directory.

     -L login-class
             Set the login class for the user being created.  See
             login.conf(5) for more information on user login classes.  This
             option is included if built with EXTENSIONS.

     -M home-perm
             sets the permissions of the newly created home directory if -m is
             given.  The permission is specified as an octal number, with or
             without a leading zero.

     -m      Create a new home directory for the new user.

     -o      Allow the new user to have a uid which is already in use for
             another user.

     -p password
             Specify an already-encrypted password for the new user.
             Encrypted passwords can be generated with pwhash(1).  The pass-
             word can be changed later by using chpass(1) or passwd(1).  This
             option is included if built with EXTENSIONS.

     -S      Allow samba user names with a trailing dollar sign to be added to
             the system.  This option is included if built with EXTENSIONS.

     -s shell
             Specify the login shell for the new user.

     -u uid  Specify a uid for the new user.  Boundaries for this value can be
             preset for all users by using the range field in the
             /etc/usermgmt.conf file.

     -v      Enable verbose mode - explain the commands as they are executed.
             This option is included if built with EXTENSIONS.

     Once the information has been verified, useradd uses pwd_mkdb(8) to
     update the user database.  This is run in the background, and, at very
     large sites could take several minutes.  Until this update is completed,
     the password file is unavailable for other updates and the new informa-
     tion is not available to programs.

EXIT STATUS
     The useradd utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

FILES
     /etc/usermgmt.conf
     /etc/skel/*
     /etc/login.conf

SEE ALSO
     chpass(1), passwd(1), pwhash(1), group(5), login.conf(5), passwd(5),
     usermgmt.conf(5), pwd_mkdb(8), user(8), userdel(8), usermod(8)

HISTORY
     The useradd utility first appeared in NetBSD 1.5.  It is based on the
     addnerd package by the same author.

AUTHORS
     The useradd utility was written by Alistair G. Crooks <agc@NetBSD.org>.

     Support for setting permissions of home directories was added by Hubert
     Feyrer.

NetBSD 5.0_STABLE               October 7, 2006              NetBSD 5.0_STABLE
