USERMOD(8) FreeBSD System Manager's Manual USERMOD(8)
NAME
usermod - modify user login information
SYNOPSIS
usermod [-moUvZ] [-c comment] [-d home-directory] [-e expiry-time]
[-f inactive-time] [-G secondary-group[,group,...]]
[-g gid | name | =uid] [-L login-class] [-l new-login]
[-p password] [-S secondary-group[,group,...]] [-s shell]
[-u uid] user
DESCRIPTION
The usermod utility modifies user login information on the system.
Default values are taken from the information provided in the
/etc/usermgmt.conf file, which, if running as root, is created using the
built-in defaults if it does not exist.
After setting any defaults, and then reading values from
/etc/usermgmt.conf, the following command line options are processed:
-c comment
Sets 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
Sets the home directory to home-directory without populating it;
if the -m option is specified, tries to move the old home
directory to home-directory.
-e expiry-time
Sets the time at which the account expires. 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. This value can be preset for new users using the expire
field in the /etc/usermgmt.conf file. See usermgmt.conf(5) for
more details.
-f inactive-time
Sets the time at which the password expires. See the -e option.
-G secondary-group[,group,...]
Appends the user to the given groups in the /etc/group file. -G
and -S are mutually exclusive.
-g gid | name | =uid
Gives the group name or identifier to be used for the user's
primary group. If this is the special string =uid, usermod
creates a group with the same ID as the UID; if such a group
already exists a warning is given and no group is created.
Groups can be preset for all users by using the group field in
the /etc/usermgmt.conf file. See usermgmt.conf(5) for more
details.
-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. This
value can be preset for all users by using the class field in the
/etc/usermgmt.conf file. See usermgmt.conf(5) for more details.
-l new-login
Gives the new user name. It must consist of alphanumeric
characters, or the characters `.', `-' or `_'.
-m Moves the home directory from its old position to the new one.
If -d is not specified, the new-user argument of the -l option is
used; one of -d and -l is needed.
-o Allows duplicate UIDs to be given.
-p password
Specifies a password encrypted with encrypt(1) for the user.
This password can then be changed by using the chpass(1) utility.
This value can be preset for all users by using the password
field in the /etc/usermgmt.conf file. See usermgmt.conf(5) for
more details.
-S secondary-group[,group,...]
Sets the secondary groups the user will be a member of in the
/etc/group file. Setting secondary-group to an empty value (e.g.
'') removes the user from all secondary groups. -S and -G are
mutually exclusive.
-s shell
Specifies the login shell for the user. This value can be preset
for all users by using the shell field in the /etc/usermgmt.conf
file. See usermgmt.conf(5) for more details.
-U Unlock the account by removing the trailing `-' from the user's
shell and the `*' prefix from the password. -U and -Z are
mutually exclusive and cannot be used with -p.
-u uid Specifies a new UID for the user. Boundaries for this value can
be preset for all users by using the range field in the
/etc/usermgmt.conf file. See usermgmt.conf(5) for more details.
-v Enables verbose mode - explain the commands as they are executed.
-Z Lock the account by appending a `-' to the user's shell and
prefixing the password with `*'. -Z and -U are mutually
exclusive and cannot be used with -p.
Once the information has been verified, usermod 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
information is not available to programs.
FILES
/etc/usermgmt.conf
EXIT STATUS
The usermod utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.
SEE ALSO
chpass(1), group(5), passwd(5), usermgmt.conf(5), pwd_mkdb(8)
STANDARDS
Other implementations of the usermod utility use the inactive-time
parameter 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 usermod utility first appeared in OpenBSD 2.7.
AUTHORS
The usermod utility was written by Alistair G. Crooks <
[email protected]>.
FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE-p8 November 30, 2016 FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE-p8