1.\" Copyright (C) 1996 2.\" David L. Nugent. All rights reserved. 3.\" 4.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 5.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 6.\" are met: 7.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 8.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 9.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 10.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 11.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 12.\" 13.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY DAVID L. NUGENT AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 14.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 15.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 16.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL DAVID L. NUGENT OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 17.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 18.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 19.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 20.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 21.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 22.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 23.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 24.\" 25.\" $FreeBSD: src/usr.sbin/pw/pw.8,v 1.19.2.12 2003/05/08 15:01:44 trhodes Exp $ 26.\" $DragonFly: src/usr.sbin/pw/pw.8,v 1.5 2008/05/02 02:05:08 swildner Exp $ 27.\" 28.Dd December 9, 1996 29.Dt PW 8 30.Os 31.Sh NAME 32.Nm pw 33.Nd create, remove, modify & display system users and groups 34.Sh SYNOPSIS 35.Nm 36.Op Fl V Ar etcdir 37.Ar useradd 38.Op name|uid 39.Op Fl C Ar config 40.Op Fl q 41.Op Fl n Ar name 42.Op Fl u Ar uid 43.Op Fl c Ar comment 44.Op Fl d Ar dir 45.Op Fl e Ar date 46.Op Fl p Ar date 47.Op Fl g Ar group 48.Op Fl G Ar grouplist 49.Op Fl m 50.Op Fl k Ar dir 51.Op Fl w Ar method 52.Op Fl s Ar shell 53.Op Fl o 54.Op Fl L Ar class 55.Op Fl h Ar fd 56.Op Fl N 57.Op Fl P 58.Op Fl Y 59.Nm 60.Op Fl V Ar etcdir 61.Ar useradd 62.Op name|uid 63.Fl D 64.Op Fl C Ar config 65.Op Fl q 66.Op Fl b Ar dir 67.Op Fl e Ar days 68.Op Fl p Ar days 69.Op Fl g Ar group 70.Op Fl G Ar grouplist 71.Op Fl k Ar dir 72.Op Fl u Ar min , Ns Ar max 73.Op Fl i Ar min , Ns Ar max 74.Op Fl w Ar method 75.Op Fl s Ar shell 76.Op Fl y Ar path 77.Nm 78.Op Fl V Ar etcdir 79.Ar userdel 80.Op name|uid 81.Op Fl n Ar name 82.Op Fl u Ar uid 83.Op Fl r 84.Op Fl Y 85.Nm 86.Op Fl V Ar etcdir 87.Ar usermod 88.Op name|uid 89.Op Fl C Ar config 90.Op Fl q 91.Op Fl n Ar name 92.Op Fl u Ar uid 93.Op Fl c Ar comment 94.Op Fl d Ar dir 95.Op Fl e Ar date 96.Op Fl p Ar date 97.Op Fl g Ar group 98.Op Fl G Ar grouplist 99.Op Fl l Ar name 100.Op Fl m 101.Op Fl k Ar dir 102.Op Fl w Ar method 103.Op Fl s Ar shell 104.Op Fl L Ar class 105.Op Fl h Ar fd 106.Op Fl N 107.Op Fl P 108.Op Fl Y 109.Nm 110.Op Fl V Ar etcdir 111.Ar usershow 112.Op name|uid 113.Op Fl n Ar name 114.Op Fl u Ar uid 115.Op Fl F 116.Op Fl P 117.Op Fl 7 118.Op Fl a 119.Nm 120.Op Fl V Ar etcdir 121.Ar usernext 122.Op Fl C Ar config 123.Op Fl q 124.Nm 125.Op Fl V Ar etcdir 126.Ar groupadd 127.Op group|gid 128.Op Fl C Ar config 129.Op Fl q 130.Op Fl n Ar group 131.Op Fl g Ar gid 132.Op Fl M Ar members 133.Op Fl o 134.Op Fl h Ar fd 135.Op Fl N 136.Op Fl P 137.Op Fl Y 138.Nm 139.Op Fl V Ar etcdir 140.Ar groupdel 141.Op group|gid 142.Op Fl n Ar name 143.Op Fl g Ar gid 144.Op Fl Y 145.Nm 146.Op Fl V Ar etcdir 147.Ar groupmod 148.Op group|gid 149.Op Fl C Ar config 150.Op Fl q 151.Op Fl n Ar name 152.Op Fl g Ar gid 153.Op Fl l Ar name 154.Op Fl M Ar members 155.Op Fl m Ar newmembers 156.Op Fl h Ar fd 157.Op Fl N 158.Op Fl P 159.Op Fl Y 160.Nm 161.Op Fl V Ar etcdir 162.Ar groupshow 163.Op group|gid 164.Op Fl n Ar name 165.Op Fl g Ar gid 166.Op Fl F 167.Op Fl P 168.Op Fl a 169.Nm 170.Op Fl V Ar etcdir 171.Ar groupnext 172.Op Fl C Ar config 173.Op Fl q 174.Nm 175.Op Fl V Ar etcdir 176.Ar lock 177.Op name|uid 178.Op Fl C Ar config 179.Op Fl q 180.Nm 181.Op Fl V Ar etcdir 182.Ar unlock 183.Op name|uid 184.Op Fl C Ar config 185.Op Fl q 186.Sh DESCRIPTION 187The 188.Nm 189utility is a command-line based editor for the system 190.Ar user 191and 192.Ar group 193files, allowing the superuser an easy to use and standardized way of adding, 194modifying and removing users and groups. 195Note that 196.Nm 197only operates on the local user and group files. 198.Tn NIS 199users and groups must be 200maintained on the 201.Tn NIS 202server. 203The 204.Nm 205utility handles updating the 206.Pa passwd , 207.Pa master.passwd , 208.Pa group 209and the secure and insecure 210password database files, and must be run as root. 211.Pp 212The first one or two keywords provided to 213.Nm 214on the command line provide the context for the remainder of the arguments. 215The keywords 216.Ar user 217and 218.Ar group 219may be combined with 220.Ar add , 221.Ar del , 222.Ar mod , 223.Ar show , 224or 225.Ar next 226in any order. 227(For example, 228.Ar showuser , 229.Ar usershow , 230.Ar show user , 231and 232.Ar user show 233all mean the same thing.) 234This flexibility is useful for interactive scripts calling 235.Nm 236for user and group database manipulation. 237Following these keywords, you may optionally specify the user or group name or numeric 238id as an alternative to using the 239.Fl n Ar name , 240.Fl u Ar uid , 241.Fl g Ar gid 242options. 243.Pp 244The following flags are common to most or all modes of operation: 245.Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist" 246.It Fl V Ar etcdir 247This flag sets an alternate location for the password, group and configuration files, 248and may be used to maintain a user/group database in an alternate location. 249If this switch is specified, the system 250.Pa /etc/pw.conf 251will not be sourced for default configuration data, but the file pw.conf in the 252specified directory will be used instead (or none, if it does not exist). 253The 254.Fl C 255flag may be used to override this behaviour. 256As an exception to the general rule where options must follow the operation 257type, the 258.Fl V 259flag may be used on the command line before the operation keyword. 260.It Fl C Ar config 261By default, 262.Nm 263reads the file 264.Pa /etc/pw.conf 265to obtain policy information on how new user accounts and groups are to be created. 266The 267.Fl C 268option specifies a different configuration file. 269While most of the contents of the configuration file may be overridden via 270command-line options, it may be more convenient to keep standard information in a 271configuration file. 272.It Fl q 273Use of this option causes 274.Nm 275to suppress error messages, which may be useful in interactive environments where it 276is preferable to interpret status codes returned by 277.Nm 278rather than messing up a carefully formatted display. 279.It Fl N 280This option is available in 281.Ar add 282and 283.Ar modify 284operations, and tells 285.Nm 286to output the result of the operation without updating the user or group 287databases. 288You may use the 289.Fl P 290option to switch between standard passwd and readable formats. 291.It Fl Y 292Using this option with any of the update modes causes 293.Nm 294to run 295.Xr make 1 296after changing to the directory 297.Pa /var/yp . 298This is intended to allow automatic updating of 299.Tn NIS 300database files. 301If separate passwd and group files are being used by 302.Tn NIS , 303then use the 304.Fl y Ar path 305option to specify the location of the 306.Tn NIS 307passwd database so that 308.Nm 309will concurrently update it with the system password 310databases. 311.El 312.Sh USER OPTIONS 313The following options apply to the 314.Ar useradd 315and 316.Ar usermod 317commands: 318.Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist" 319.It Fl n Ar name 320Specify the user/account name. 321.It Fl u Ar uid 322Specify the user/account numeric id. 323.Pp 324Usually, you only need to provide one or the other of these options, as the account 325name will imply the uid, or vice versa. 326However, there are times when you need to provide both. 327For example, when changing the uid of an existing user with 328.Ar usermod , 329or overriding the default uid when creating a new account. 330If you wish 331.Nm 332to automatically allocate the uid to a new user with 333.Ar useradd , 334then you should 335.Em not 336use the 337.Fl u 338option. 339You may also provide either the account or userid immediately after the 340.Ar useradd , 341.Ar userdel , 342.Ar usermod 343or 344.Ar usershow 345keywords on the command line without using the 346.Fl n 347or 348.Fl u 349options. 350.El 351.Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist" 352.It Fl c Ar comment 353This field sets the contents of the passwd GECOS field, which normally contains up 354to four comma-separated fields containing the user's full name, office or location, 355and work and home phone numbers. 356These sub-fields are used by convention only, however, and are optional. 357If this field is to contain spaces, you need to quote the comment itself with double 358quotes 359.Ql \&" . 360Avoid using commas in this field as these are used as sub-field separators, and the 361colon 362.Ql \&: 363character also cannot be used as this is the field separator for the passwd 364file itself. 365.It Fl d Ar dir 366This option sets the account's home directory. 367Normally, you will only use this if the home directory is to be different from the 368default determined from 369.Pa /etc/pw.conf 370- normally 371.Pa /home 372with the account name as a subdirectory. 373.It Fl e Ar date 374Set the account's expiration date. 375Format of the date is either a 376.Ux 377time in decimal, or a date in 378.Ql dd-mmm-yy[yy] 379format, where dd is the day, mmm is the month, either in numeric or alphabetic format 380('Jan', 'Feb', etc) and year is either a two or four digit year. 381This option also accepts a relative date in the form 382.Ql \&+n[mhdwoy] 383where 384.Ql \&n 385is a decimal, octal (leading 0) or hexadecimal (leading 0x) digit followed by the 386number of Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, Months or Years from the current date at 387which the expiration date is to be set. 388.It Fl p Ar date 389Set the account's password expiration date. 390This field is similar to the account expiration date option, except that it 391applies to forced password changes. 392This is set in the same manner as the 393.Fl e 394option. 395.It Fl g Ar group 396Set the account's primary group to the given group. 397.Ar group 398may be defined by either its name or group number. 399.It Fl G Ar grouplist 400Set additional group memberships for an account. 401.Ar grouplist 402is a comma-separated list of group names or group numbers. 403The user's name is added to the group lists in 404.Pa /etc/group , 405and 406removed from any groups not specified in 407.Ar grouplist . 408Note: a user should not be added to their primary group with 409.Ar grouplist . 410Also, group membership changes do not take effect for current user login 411sessions, requiring the user to reconnect to be affected by the changes. 412.It Fl L Ar class 413This option sets the login class for the user being created. 414See 415.Xr login.conf 5 416and 417.Xr passwd 5 418for more information on user login classes. 419.It Fl m 420This option instructs 421.Nm 422to attempt to create the user's home directory. 423While primarily useful when adding a new account with 424.Ar useradd , 425this may also be of use when moving an existing user's home directory elsewhere on 426the file system. 427The new home directory is populated with the contents of the 428.Ar skeleton 429directory, which typically contains a set of shell configuration files that the 430user may personalize to taste. 431When 432.Fl m 433is used on an account with 434.Ar usermod , 435existing configuration files in the user's home directory are 436.Em not 437overwritten from the skeleton files. 438.Pp 439When a user's home directory is created, it will by default be a subdirectory of the 440.Ar basehome 441directory as specified by the 442.Fl b 443option (see below), bearing the name of the new account. 444This can be overridden by the 445.Fl d 446option on the command line, if desired. 447.It Fl k Ar dir 448Set the 449.Ar skeleton 450directory, from which basic startup and configuration files are copied when 451the user's home directory is created. 452This option only has meaning when used with the 453.Fl d 454or 455.Fl m 456flags. 457.It Fl s Ar shell 458Set or changes the user's login shell to 459.Ar shell . 460If the path to the shell program is omitted, 461.Nm 462searches the 463.Ar shellpath 464specified in 465.Pa /etc/pw.conf 466and fills it in as appropriate. 467Note that unless you have a specific reason to do so, you should avoid 468specifying the path - this will allow 469.Nm 470to validate that the program exists and is executable. 471Specifying a full path (or supplying a blank "" shell) avoids this check 472and allows for such entries as 473.Pa /nonexistent 474that should be set for accounts not intended for interactive login. 475.It Fl h Ar fd 476This option provides a special interface by which interactive scripts can 477set an account password using 478.Nm . 479Because the command line and environment are fundamentally insecure mechanisms 480by which programs can accept information, 481.Nm 482will only allow setting of account and group passwords via a file descriptor 483(usually a pipe between an interactive script and the program). 484.Ar sh , 485.Ar bash , 486.Ar ksh 487and 488.Ar perl 489all possess mechanisms by which this can be done. 490Alternatively, 491.Nm 492will prompt for the user's password if 493.Fl h Ar 0 494is given, nominating 495.Em stdin 496as the file descriptor on which to read the password. 497Note that this password will be read only once and is intended 498for use by a script rather than for interactive use. 499If you wish to have new password confirmation along the lines of 500.Xr passwd 1 , 501this must be implemented as part of an interactive script that calls 502.Nm . 503.Pp 504If a value of 505.Ql \&- 506is given as the argument 507.Ar fd , 508then the password will be set to 509.Ql \&* , 510rendering the account inaccessible via password-based login. 511.El 512.Pp 513It is possible to use 514.Ar useradd 515to create a new account that duplicates an existing user id. 516While this is normally considered an error and will be rejected, the 517.Fl o 518option overrides the check for duplicates and allows the duplication of 519the user id. 520This may be useful if you allow the same user to login under 521different contexts (different group allocations, different home 522directory, different shell) while providing basically the same 523permissions for access to the user's files in each account. 524.Pp 525The 526.Ar useradd 527command also has the ability to set new user and group defaults by using the 528.Fl D 529option. 530Instead of adding a new user, 531.Nm 532writes a new set of defaults to its configuration file, 533.Pa /etc/pw.conf . 534When using the 535.Fl D 536option, you must not use either 537.Fl n Ar name 538or 539.Fl u Ar uid 540or an error will result. 541Use of 542.Fl D 543changes the meaning of several command line switches in the 544.Ar useradd 545command. 546These are: 547.Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist" 548.It Fl D 549Set default values in 550.Pa /etc/pw.conf 551configuration file, or a different named configuration file if the 552.Fl C Ar config 553option is used. 554.It Fl b Ar dir 555Set the root directory in which user home directories are created. 556The default value for this is 557.Pa /home , 558but it may be set elsewhere as desired. 559.It Fl e Ar days 560Set the default account expiration period in days. 561Unlike use without 562.Fl D , 563the argument must be numeric, which specifies the number of days after creation when 564the account is to expire. 565A value of 0 suppresses automatic calculation of the expiry date. 566.It Fl p Ar days 567Set the default password expiration period in days. 568.It Fl g Ar group 569Set the default group for new users. 570If a blank group is specified using 571.Fl g Ar \&"" , 572then new users will be allocated their own private primary group 573with the same name as their login name. 574If a group is supplied, either its name or uid may be given as an argument. 575.It Fl G Ar grouplist 576Set the default groups in which new users are granted membership. 577This is a separate set of groups from the primary group, and you should avoid 578nominating the same group as both primary and extra groups. 579In other words, these extra groups determine membership in groups 580.Em other than 581the primary group. 582.Ar grouplist 583is a comma-separated list of group names or ids, and are always 584stored in 585.Pa /etc/pw.conf 586by their symbolic names. 587.It Fl L Ar class 588This option sets the default login class for new users. 589.It Fl k Ar dir 590Set the default 591.Em skeleton 592directory, from which prototype shell and other initialization files are copied when 593.Nm 594creates a user's home directory. 595.It Xo 596.Fl u Ar min , Ns Ar max , 597.Fl i Ar min , Ns Ar max 598.Xc 599These options set the minimum and maximum user and group ids allocated for new accounts 600and groups created by 601.Nm . 602The default values for each is 1000 minimum and 32000 maximum. 603.Ar min 604and 605.Ar max 606are both numbers, where max must be greater than min, and both must be between 0 607and 32767. 608In general, user and group ids less than 100 are reserved for use by the system, 609and numbers greater than 32000 may also be reserved for special purposes (used by 610some system daemons). 611.It Fl w Ar method 612The 613.Fl w 614option sets the default method used to set passwords for newly created user accounts. 615.Ar method 616is one of: 617.Pp 618.Bl -tag -width random -offset indent -compact 619.It no 620disable login on newly created accounts 621.It yes 622force the password to be the account name 623.It none 624force a blank password 625.It random 626generate a random password 627.El 628.Pp 629The 630.Ql \&random 631or 632.Ql \&no 633methods are the most secure; in the former case, 634.Nm 635generates a password and prints it to stdout, which is suitable where you issue 636users with passwords to access their accounts rather than having the user nominate 637their own (possibly poorly chosen) password. 638The 639.Ql \&no 640method requires that the superuser use 641.Xr passwd 1 642to render the account accessible with a password. 643.It Fl y Ar path 644This sets the pathname of the database used by 645.Tn NIS 646if you are not sharing 647the information from 648.Pa /etc/master.passwd 649directly with 650.Tn NIS . 651You should only set this option for 652.Tn NIS 653servers. 654.El 655.Pp 656The 657.Ar userdel 658command has only three valid options. 659The 660.Fl n Ar name 661and 662.Fl u Ar uid 663options have already been covered above. 664The additional option is: 665.Bl -tag -width "-G grouplist" 666.It Fl r 667This tells 668.Nm 669to remove the user's home directory and all of its contents. 670The 671.Nm 672utility errs on the side of caution when removing files from the system. 673Firstly, it will not do so if the uid of the account being removed is also used by 674another account on the system, and the 'home' directory in the password file is 675a valid path that commences with the character 676.Ql \&/ . 677Secondly, it will only remove files and directories that are actually owned by 678the user, or symbolic links owned by anyone under the user's home directory. 679Finally, after deleting all contents owned by the user only empty directories 680will be removed. 681If any additional cleanup work is required, this is left to the administrator. 682.El 683.Pp 684Mail spool files and crontabs are always removed when an account is deleted as these 685are unconditionally attached to the user name. 686Jobs queued for processing by 687.Ar at 688are also removed if the user's uid is unique and not also used by another account on the 689system. 690.Pp 691The 692.Ar usershow 693command allows viewing of an account in one of two formats. 694By default, the format is identical to the format used in 695.Pa /etc/master.passwd 696with the password field replaced with a 697.Ql \&* . 698If the 699.Fl P 700option is used, then 701.Nm 702outputs the account details in a more human readable form. 703If the 704.Fl 7 705option is used, the account details are shown in v7 format. 706The 707.Fl a 708option lists all users currently on file. 709Using 710.Fl F 711forces 712.Nm 713to print the details of an account even if it does not exist. 714.Pp 715The command 716.Ar usernext 717returns the next available user and group ids separated by a colon. 718This is normally of interest only to interactive scripts or front-ends 719that use 720.Nm . 721.Sh GROUP OPTIONS 722The 723.Fl C 724and 725.Fl q 726options (explained at the start of the previous section) are available 727with the group manipulation commands. 728Other common options to all group-related commands are: 729.Bl -tag -width "-m newmembers" 730.It Fl n Ar name 731Specify the group name. 732.It Fl g Ar gid 733Specify the group numeric id. 734.Pp 735As with the account name and id fields, you will usually only need 736to supply one of these, as the group name implies the uid and vice 737versa. 738You will only need to use both when setting a specific group id 739against a new group or when changing the uid of an existing group. 740.It Fl M Ar memberlist 741This option provides an alternative way to add existing users to a 742new group (in groupadd) or replace an existing membership list (in 743groupmod). 744.Ar memberlist 745is a comma separated list of valid and existing user names or uids. 746.It Fl m Ar newmembers 747Similar to 748.Fl M , 749this option allows the 750.Em addition 751of existing users to a group without replacing the existing list of 752members. 753Login names or user ids may be used, and duplicate users are 754silently eliminated. 755.El 756.Pp 757.Ar groupadd 758also has a 759.Fl o 760option that allows allocation of an existing group id to a new group. 761The default action is to reject an attempt to add a group, and this option overrides 762the check for duplicate group ids. 763There is rarely any need to duplicate a group id. 764.Pp 765The 766.Ar groupmod 767command adds one additional option: 768.Bl -tag -width "-m newmembers" 769.It Fl l Ar name 770This option allows changing of an existing group name to 771.Ql \&name . 772The new name must not already exist, and any attempt to duplicate an existing group 773name will be rejected. 774.El 775.Pp 776Options for 777.Ar groupshow 778are the same as for 779.Ar usershow , 780with the 781.Fl g Ar gid 782replacing 783.Fl u Ar uid 784to specify the group id. 785The 786.Fl 7 787option does not apply to the 788.Ar groupshow 789command. 790.Pp 791The command 792.Ar groupnext 793returns the next available group id on standard output. 794.Sh USER LOCKING 795The 796.Nm 797utility 798supports a simple password locking mechanism for users; it works by 799prepending the string 800.Ql *LOCKED* 801to the beginning of the password field in 802.Pa master.passwd 803to prevent successful authentication. 804.Pp 805The 806.Ar lock 807and 808.Ar unlock 809commands take a user name or uid of the account to lock or unlock, 810respectively. The 811.Fl V , 812.Fl C , 813and 814.Fl q 815options as described above are accepted by these commands. 816.Sh FILES 817.Bl -tag -width /etc/master.passwd.new -compact 818.It Pa /etc/master.passwd 819The user database 820.It Pa /etc/passwd 821A Version 7 format password file 822.It Pa /etc/login.conf 823The user capabilities database 824.It Pa /etc/group 825The group database 826.It Pa /etc/master.passwd.new 827Temporary copy of the master password file 828.It Pa /etc/passwd.new 829Temporary copy of the Version 7 password file 830.It Pa /etc/group.new 831Temporary copy of the group file 832.It Pa /etc/pw.conf 833Pw default options file 834.It Pa /var/log/userlog 835User/group modification logfile 836.El 837.Sh DIAGNOSTICS 838The 839.Nm 840utility returns EXIT_SUCCESS on successful operation, otherwise 841.Nm 842returns one of the 843following exit codes defined by 844.Xr sysexits 3 845as follows: 846.Bl -tag -width xxxx 847.It EX_USAGE 848.Bl -bullet -compact 849.It 850Command line syntax errors (invalid keyword, unknown option). 851.El 852.It EX_NOPERM 853.Bl -bullet -compact 854.It 855Attempting to run one of the update modes as non-root. 856.El 857.It EX_OSERR 858.Bl -bullet -compact 859.It 860Memory allocation error. 861.It 862Read error from password file descriptor. 863.El 864.It EX_DATAERR 865.Bl -bullet -compact 866.It 867Bad or invalid data provided or missing on the command line or 868via the password file descriptor. 869.It 870Attempted to remove, rename root account or change its uid. 871.El 872.It EX_OSFILE 873.Bl -bullet -compact 874.It 875Skeleton directory is invalid or does not exist. 876.It 877Base home directory is invalid or does not exist. 878.It 879Invalid or non-existent shell specified. 880.El 881.It EX_NOUSER 882.Bl -bullet -compact 883.It 884User, user id, group or group id specified does not exist. 885.It 886User or group recorded, added, or modified unexpectedly disappeared. 887.El 888.It EX_SOFTWARE 889.Bl -bullet -compact 890.It 891No more group or user ids available within specified range. 892.El 893.It EX_IOERR 894.Bl -bullet -compact 895.It 896Unable to rewrite configuration file. 897.It 898Error updating group or user database files. 899.It 900Update error for passwd or group database files. 901.El 902.It EX_CONFIG 903.Bl -bullet -compact 904.It 905No base home directory configured. 906.El 907.El 908.Sh NOTES 909For a summary of options available with each command, you can use 910.Dl pw [command] help 911For example, 912.Dl pw useradd help 913lists all available options for the useradd operation. 914.Pp 915The 916.Nm 917utility allows 8-bit characters in the passwd GECOS field (user's full name, 918office, work and home phone number subfields), but disallows them in 919user login and group names. 920Use 8-bit characters with caution, as connection to the Internet will 921require that your mail transport program supports 8BITMIME, and will 922convert headers containing 8-bit characters to 7-bit quoted-printable 923format. 924.Xr sendmail 8 925does support this. 926Use of 8-bit characters in the GECOS field should be used in 927conjunction with the user's default locale and character set 928and should not be implemented without their use. 929Using 8-bit characters may also affect other 930programs that transmit the contents of the GECOS field over the 931Internet, such as 932.Xr fingerd 8 , 933and a small number of TCP/IP clients, such as IRC, where full names 934specified in the passwd file may be used by default. 935.Pp 936The 937.Nm 938utility writes a log to the 939.Pa /var/log/userlog 940file when actions such as user or group additions or deletions occur. 941The location of this logfile can be changed in 942.Xr pw.conf 5 . 943.Sh SEE ALSO 944.Xr chpass 1 , 945.Xr passwd 1 , 946.Xr group 5 , 947.Xr login.conf 5 , 948.Xr passwd 5 , 949.Xr pw.conf 5 , 950.Xr pwd_mkdb 8 , 951.Xr vipw 8 952.Sh HISTORY 953The 954.Nm 955utility was written to mimic many of the options used in the SYSV 956.Em shadow 957support suite, but is modified for passwd and group fields specific to 958the 959.Bx 4.4 960operating system, and combines all of the major elements 961into a single command. 962