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NEWUSERS(8)               System Management Commands               NEWUSERS(8)
NAME
       newusers - update and create new users in batch
SYNOPSIS
       newusers [options] [file]
DESCRIPTION
       The newusers command reads a file (or the standard input by default)
       and uses this information to update a set of existing users or to
       create new users. Each line is in the same format as the standard
       password file (see passwd(5)) with the exceptions explained below:
       pw_name:pw_passwd:pw_uid:pw_gid:pw_gecos:pw_dir:pw_shell
       pw_name
           This is the name of the user.
           It can be the name of a new user or the name of an existing user
           (or a user created before by newusers). In case of an existing
           user, the user's information will be changed, otherwise a new user
           will be created.
       pw_passwd
           This field will be encrypted and used as the new value of the
           encrypted password.
       pw_uid
           This field is used to define the UID of the user.
           If the field is empty, a new (unused) UID will be defined
           automatically by newusers.
           If this field contains a number, this number will be used as the
           UID.
           If this field contains the name of an existing user (or the name of
           a user created before by newusers), the UID of the specified user
           will be used.
           If the UID of an existing user is changed, the files ownership of
           the user's file should be fixed manually.
       pw_gid
           This field is used to define the primary group ID for the user.
           If this field contains the name of an existing group (or a group
           created before by newusers), the GID of this group will be used as
           the primary group ID for the user.
           If this field is a number, this number will be used as the primary
           group ID of the user. If no groups exist with this GID, a new group
           will be created with this GID, and the name of the user.
           If this field is empty, a new group will be created with the name
           of the user and a GID will be automatically defined by newusers to
           be used as the primary group ID for the user and as the GID for the
           new group.
           If this field contains the name of a group which does not exist
           (and was not created before by newusers), a new group will be
           created with the specified name and a GID will be automatically
           defined by newusers to be used as the primary group ID for the user
           and GID for the new group.
       pw_gecos
           This field is copied in the GECOS field of the user.
       pw_dir
           This field is used to define the home directory of the user.
           If this field does not specify an existing directory, the specified
           directory is created, with ownership set to the user being created
           or updated and its primary group. Note that newusers does not
           create parent directories of the new user's home directory. The
           newusers command will fail to create the home directory if the
           parent directories do not exist, and will send a message to stderr
           informing the user of the failure. The newusers command will not
           halt or return a failure to the calling shell if it fails to create
           the home directory, it will continue to process the batch of new
           users specified.
           If the home directory of an existing user is changed, newusers does
           not move or copy the content of the old directory to the new
           location. This should be done manually.
       pw_shell
           This field defines the shell of the user. No checks are performed
           on this field.
       newusers first tries to create or change all the specified users, and
       then write these changes to the user or group databases. If an error
       occurs (except in the final writes to the databases), no changes are
       committed to the databases.
       This command is intended to be used in a large system environment where
       many accounts are updated at a single time.
OPTIONS
       The options which apply to the newusers command are:
       -c, --crypt-method
           Use the specified method to encrypt the passwords.
           The available methods are DES, MD5, NONE, and SHA256 or SHA512 if
           your libc support these methods.
       -h, --help
           Display help message and exit.
       -r, --system
           Create a system account.
           System users will be created with no aging information in
           /etc/shadow, and their numeric identifiers are chosen in the
           SYS_UID_MIN-SYS_UID_MAX range, defined in login.defs, instead of
           UID_MIN-UID_MAX (and their GID counterparts for the creation of
           groups).
       -R, --root CHROOT_DIR
           Apply changes in the CHROOT_DIR directory and use the configuration
           files from the CHROOT_DIR directory.
       -s, --sha-rounds
           Use the specified number of rounds to encrypt the passwords.
           The value 0 means that the system will choose the default number of
           rounds for the crypt method (5000).
           A minimal value of 1000 and a maximal value of 999,999,999 will be
           enforced.
           You can only use this option with the SHA256 or SHA512 crypt
           method.
           By default, the number of rounds is defined by the
           SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS and SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS variables in
           /etc/login.defs.
CAVEATS
       The input file must be protected since it contains unencrypted
       passwords.
       You should make sure the passwords and the encryption method respect
       the system's password policy.
CONFIGURATION
       The following configuration variables in /etc/login.defs change the
       behavior of this tool:
       ENCRYPT_METHOD (string)
           This defines the system default encryption algorithm for encrypting
           passwords (if no algorithm are specified on the command line).
           It can take one of these values: DES (default), MD5, SHA256,
           SHA512.
           Note: this parameter overrides the MD5_CRYPT_ENAB variable.
       GID_MAX (number), GID_MIN (number)
           Range of group IDs used for the creation of regular groups by
           useradd, groupadd, or newusers.
           The default value for GID_MIN (resp.  GID_MAX) is 1000 (resp.
           60000).
       MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP (number)
           Maximum members per group entry. When the maximum is reached, a new
           group entry (line) is started in /etc/group (with the same name,
           same password, and same GID).
           The default value is 0, meaning that there are no limits in the
           number of members in a group.
           This feature (split group) permits to limit the length of lines in
           the group file. This is useful to make sure that lines for NIS
           groups are not larger than 1024 characters.
           If you need to enforce such limit, you can use 25.
           Note: split groups may not be supported by all tools (even in the
           Shadow toolsuite). You should not use this variable unless you
           really need it.
       MD5_CRYPT_ENAB (boolean)
           Indicate if passwords must be encrypted using the MD5-based
           algorithm. If set to yes, new passwords will be encrypted using the
           MD5-based algorithm compatible with the one used by recent releases
           of FreeBSD. It supports passwords of unlimited length and longer
           salt strings. Set to no if you need to copy encrypted passwords to
           other systems which don't understand the new algorithm. Default is
           no.
           This variable is superseded by the ENCRYPT_METHOD variable or by
           any command line option used to configure the encryption algorithm.
           This variable is deprecated. You should use ENCRYPT_METHOD.
       PASS_MAX_DAYS (number)
           The maximum number of days a password may be used. If the password
           is older than this, a password change will be forced. If not
           specified, -1 will be assumed (which disables the restriction).
       PASS_MIN_DAYS (number)
           The minimum number of days allowed between password changes. Any
           password changes attempted sooner than this will be rejected. If
           not specified, -1 will be assumed (which disables the restriction).
       PASS_WARN_AGE (number)
           The number of days warning given before a password expires. A zero
           means warning is given only upon the day of expiration, a negative
           value means no warning is given. If not specified, no warning will
           be provided.
       SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS (number), SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS (number)
           When ENCRYPT_METHOD is set to SHA256 or SHA512, this defines the
           number of SHA rounds used by the encryption algorithm by default
           (when the number of rounds is not specified on the command line).
           With a lot of rounds, it is more difficult to brute forcing the
           password. But note also that more CPU resources will be needed to
           authenticate users.
           If not specified, the libc will choose the default number of rounds
           (5000).
           The values must be inside the 1000-999,999,999 range.
           If only one of the SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS or SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS
           values is set, then this value will be used.
           If SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS > SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS, the highest value
           will be used.
       SUB_GID_MIN (number), SUB_GID_MAX (number), SUB_GID_COUNT (number)
           If /etc/subuid exists, the commands useradd and newusers (unless
           the user already have subordinate group IDs) allocate SUB_GID_COUNT
           unused group IDs from the range SUB_GID_MIN to SUB_GID_MAX for each
           new user.
           The default values for SUB_GID_MIN, SUB_GID_MAX, SUB_GID_COUNT are
           respectively 100000, 600100000 and 65536.
       SUB_UID_MIN (number), SUB_UID_MAX (number), SUB_UID_COUNT (number)
           If /etc/subuid exists, the commands useradd and newusers (unless
           the user already have subordinate user IDs) allocate SUB_UID_COUNT
           unused user IDs from the range SUB_UID_MIN to SUB_UID_MAX for each
           new user.
           The default values for SUB_UID_MIN, SUB_UID_MAX, SUB_UID_COUNT are
           respectively 100000, 600100000 and 65536.
       SYS_GID_MAX (number), SYS_GID_MIN (number)
           Range of group IDs used for the creation of system groups by
           useradd, groupadd, or newusers.
           The default value for SYS_GID_MIN (resp.  SYS_GID_MAX) is 101
           (resp.  GID_MIN-1).
       SYS_UID_MAX (number), SYS_UID_MIN (number)
           Range of user IDs used for the creation of system users by useradd
           or newusers.
           The default value for SYS_UID_MIN (resp.  SYS_UID_MAX) is 101
           (resp.  UID_MIN-1).
       UID_MAX (number), UID_MIN (number)
           Range of user IDs used for the creation of regular users by useradd
           or newusers.
           The default value for UID_MIN (resp.  UID_MAX) is 1000 (resp.
           60000).
       UMASK (number)
           The file mode creation mask is initialized to this value. If not
           specified, the mask will be initialized to 022.
           useradd and newusers use this mask to set the mode of the home
           directory they create if HOME_MODE is not set.
           It is also used by login to define users' initial umask. Note that
           this mask can be overridden by the user's GECOS line (if
           QUOTAS_ENAB is set) or by the specification of a limit with the K
           identifier in limits(5).
FILES
       /etc/passwd
           User account information.
       /etc/shadow
           Secure user account information.
       /etc/group
           Group account information.
       /etc/gshadow
           Secure group account information.
       /etc/login.defs
           Shadow password suite configuration.
       /etc/subgid
           Per user subordinate group IDs.
       /etc/subuid
           Per user subordinate user IDs.
SEE ALSO
       login.defs(5), passwd(1), subgid(5), subuid(5), useradd(8).
shadow-utils 4.6                  04/06/2024                       NEWUSERS(8)