Книга: Fedora™ Unleashed, 2008 edition

Creating Users

Creating Users

When a Linux system administrator creates a user, an entry in /etc/passwd for the user is created. The system also creates a directory, labeled with the user's username, in the /home directory. For example, if you create a user named bernice, the user's home directory is /home/bernice.

Use the useradd command, along with a user's name, to quickly create a user:

# useradd andrew

After creating the user, you must also create the user's initial password with the passwd command:

# passwd andrew
Changing password for user andrew.
New password:
Retype new password:
passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully.

Enter the new password twice. If you do not create an initial password for a new user, the user cannot log in.

You can view useradd's default new user settings by using the command and its -D option, like this:

# useradd -D
GROUP=100
HOME=/home
INACTIVE=-1
EXPIRE=
SHELL=/bin/bash
SKEL=/etc/skel
CREATE_MAIL_SPOOL=yes

These options display the default group ID, home directory, account and password policy (active forever with no password expiration), the default shell, and the directory containing defaults for the shell.

The useradd command has many different command-line options. The command can be used to set policies and dates for the new user's password, assign a login shell, assign group membership, and manage other aspects of a user's account.

Оглавление книги