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Creating user accounts   There's the Absolute tool and the usual Slackware way. The tool is easy, the older way gives the creator much more control. Below is a screenshot of the Absolute tool.

• Absolute Tool
  
  

  Type in the user name. Type in the password, twice. Click create. --That's about it.
  
  What it does is create a new user for you belonging to the default groups to have access to the cdrom, games, etc. The functional line in the little utility is:
  
  

  
  	useradd -m -g users -G users,audio,video,disk,floppy,cdrom,games -p password username
  
  	

  (Password is sent encrypted.)
  
  After it tells you the user account was created, you can then logout and login as that new user. If you get a bit happy with it and need to delete some extra user accounts, you can do so quite simply from the commandline (as root) with the userdel utility. As so:
  
  

  	userdel -r USERNAME
  	

  
  
  The "-r" flag tells userdel to delete the user's home directory and its contents. Leave it out if you wish to keep those files.

  
  
  
  
  
• Adduser tool
  
  

  This is the Slackware interactive comandline script that acts as a front-end for useradd. You open a term (or from the console) as root, then type in "adduser" and follow the prompts. I list them below so you can see what they look like, making a user named "tom".
  
  

  adduser[ENTER] Login name for new user []: tom User ID ('UID') [ defaults to next available ]: Initial group [ users ]: Additional groups (comma separated) []: Home directory [ /home/tom ]: Shell [ /bin/bash ]: Expiry date (YYYY-MM-DD) []: New account will be created as follows: -------------------------------------- Login name........: tom UID...............: [ Next Available ] Initial group.....: users Additional groups.: [ None ] Home directory....: /home/tom Shell.............: /bin/bash Expiry date.......: [ Never ]

  
  
  Hit Control-C if you change your mind, otherwise hit [ENTER] to create the account. Then the adduser script will prompt you for additional information and a password for the account.
  
  

  Changing the user information for tom Enter the new value, or press ENTER for the default Full Name []: Room Number []: Work Phone []: Home Phone []: Other []: Changing the password for tom Enter the new password (minimum of 5, maximum of 127 characters) Please use a combination of upper and lower case letters and numbers. New password: Re-enter new password: Password changed.

  
  
  
  
  
• Hardcore Commandline Method
  
  

  USERADD

  Section: Maintenance Commands (8)
  Index

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  NAME

  
  useradd - Create a new user or update default new user information  

  SYNOPSIS

  
  

  useradd [-c comment] [-d home_dir]

  
  [-e expire_date] [-f inactive_time]
  [-g initial_group] [-G group[,...]]
  [-m [-k skeleton_dir]] [-o] [-p passwd]
  [-s shell] [-u uid] login

  useradd -D [-g default_group] [-b default_home]

  
  [-e default_expire_date] [-f default_inactive]
  [-s default_shell]

   

  DESCRIPTION

  
   

  Creating New Users

  
  When invoked without the -D option, the useradd command creates a new user account using the values specified on the command line and the default values from the system. The new user account will be entered into the system files as needed, the home directory will be created, and initial files copied, depending on the command line options. The options which apply to the useradd command are:

  -c comment

  The new user's password file comment field.

  -d home_dir

  The new user will be created using home_dir as the value for the user's login directory. The default is to append the login name to default_home and use that as the login directory name.

  -e expire_date

  The date on which the user account will be disabled. The date is specified in the format YYYY-MM-DD.

  -f inactive_days

  The number of days after a password expires until the account is permanently disabled. A value of 0 disables the account as soon as the password has expired, and a value of -1 disables the feature. The default value is -1.

  -g initial_group

  The group name or number of the user's initial login group. The group name must exist. A group number must refer to an already existing group. The default group number is 1 or whatever is specified in /etc/default/useradd.

  -G group,[...]

  A list of supplementary groups which the user is also a member of. Each group is separated from the next by a comma, with no intervening whitespace. The groups are subject to the same restrictions as the group given with the -g option. The default is for the user to belong only to the initial group.

  -m

  The user's home directory will be created if it does not exist. The files contained in skeleton_dir will be copied to the home directory if the -k option is used, otherwise the files contained in /etc/skel will be used instead. Any directories contained in skeleton_dir or /etc/skel will be created in the user's home directory as well. The -k option is only valid in conjunction with the -m option. The default is to not create the directory and to not copy any files.

  -o

  Allow create user with duplicate (non-unique) UID.

  -p passwd

  The encrypted password, as returned by crypt(3). The default is to disable the account.

  -s shell

  The name of the user's login shell. The default is to leave this field blank, which causes the system to select the default login shell.

  -u uid

  The numerical value of the user's ID. This value must be unique, unless the -o option is used. The value must be non-negative. The default is to use the smallest ID value greater than 99 and greater than every other user. Values between 0 and 99 are typically reserved for system accounts.

   

  Changing the default values

  
  When invoked with the -D option, useradd will either display the current default values, or update the default values from the command line. The valid options are

  -b default_home

  The initial path prefix for a new user's home directory. The user's name will be affixed to the end of default_home to create the new directory name if the -d option is not used when creating a new account.

  -e default_expire_date

  The date on which the user account is disabled.

  -f default_inactive

  The number of days after a password has expired before the account will be disabled.

  -g default_group

  The group name or ID for a new user's initial group. The named group must exist, and a numerical group ID must have an existing entry .

  -s default_shell

  The name of the new user's login shell. The named program will be used for all future new user accounts.

  If no options are specified, useradd displays the current default values.  

  NOTES

  
  The system administrator is responsible for placing the default user files in the /etc/skel directory.  

  CAVEATS

  
  You may not add a user to an NIS group. This must be performed on the NIS server.  

  FILES

  
  /etc/passwd - user account information
  /etc/shadow - secure user account information
  /etc/group - group information
  /etc/default/useradd - default information
  /etc/skel - directory containing default files

  AUTHOR

  
  Julianne Frances Haugh (jockgrrl@ix.netcom.com)

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  Index

  
  

  NAME

  SYNOPSIS

  DESCRIPTION

  Creating New Users

  Changing the default values

  NOTES

  CAVEATS

  FILES

  SEE ALSO

  AUTHOR

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Pages created on Absolute OS	Graphics made/edited by the Gimp