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

NAME
     useradd - add a user to the system

SYNOPSIS
     useradd -D [-b base-dir] [-e expiry-time] [-f inactive-time]
             [-g gid | name | =uid] [-k skel-dir] [-L login-class]
             [-r low..high] [-s shell]
     useradd [-mov] [-b base-dir] [-c comment] [-d home-dir] [-e expiry-time]
             [-f inactive-time] [-G secondary-group[,group,...]]
             [-g gid | name | =uid] [-k skel-dir] [-L login-class]
             [-p password] [-r low..high] [-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.

     -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.

     -b base-dir
             sets the 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.

     -e expiry-time
             sets the default time at which new 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 inactive-time
             sets the time at which passwords of new accounts will expire.
             Also see the -e option above.

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

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

     -L login-class
             sets the default login class for new users.  See login.conf(5)
             for more information on user login classes.

     -r low..high
             sets 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.

     -s shell
             sets 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 op-
     tions are processed:

     -b base-directory
             is the base directory name, in which the user's new home directo-
             ry will be created, should the -m option be specified.

     -c comment
             is 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
             is the home directory which will be created and populated for the
             user, should the -m option be specified.

     -e expiry-time
             sets the time at which the user account 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.  See passwd(5) for more details.

     -f inactive-time
             sets the time at which the current password will expire.  Also
             see the -e option above.

     -G secondary-group[,group,...]
             are the secondary groups to which the user will be added in the
             /etc/group file.

     -g gid | name | =uid
             gives 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
             gives the skeleton directory in which to find files with which to
             populate the new user's home directory.

     -L login-class
             This option sets the login class for the user being created.  See
             login.conf(5) for more information on user login classes.

     -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 an-
             other user.

     -p password
             specifies an already-encrypted password for the new user.  This
             password can then be changed by using the chpass(1) utility.  If
             this option is not specified, and no default exists in
             /etc/usermgmt.conf, the account will be disabled by default.

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

     -u uid  specifies 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      enables verbose mode - explain the commands as they are executed.

     Once the information has been verified, useradd uses pwd_mkdb(8) to up-
     date 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.

     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), group(5), login.conf(5), passwd(5), usermgmt.conf(5),
     pwd_mkdb(8), user(8), userdel(8), usermod(8)

STANDARDS
     Other implementations of the useradd utility use the inactive-time param-
     eter to refer to the maximum number of days allowed between logins (this
     is used to lock "stale" accounts that have not been used for a period of
     time).  However, on OpenBSD systems this parameter refers instead to the
     password change time.  This is due to differences in the passwd(5)
     database compared to other operating systems.

HISTORY
     The useradd utility first appeared in OpenBSD 2.7.

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

OpenBSD 4.1                    September 5, 2001                             3
