User and Group Management Cheat Sheet

“I fight for the users!” -Tron

Just a basic syntax cheat-sheet, for things I’d most likely use these for.

useradd

  • -c: add a comment (typically used for the user’s full name)
  • -d: specify home directory (but this doesn’t necessarily create it)
  • -m: create home diretory
  • -r: system account (for things like Apache where it’s best to run under a user acct)

usermod

  • -a: append; adds user to groups (only use with -G option)
  • -c: overwrite current comment
  • -d: specify new home direcctory
  • -G: a list of groups that the user is a member of (overwrites the list unless used with -a)
  • -L: lock password (this won’t block SSH with a key)
  • -m: move home (move user’s home to a new location)

groupadd

  • -r: system

groupmod

  • -n: new name for the group