NAME
userdel —
remove a user from the
system
SYNOPSIS
userdel |
-D [-p
preserve-value] |
userdel |
[-rSv]
[-p
preserve-value]
user |
DESCRIPTION
The
userdel utility removes a user from the system, optionally
removing that user's home directory and any subdirectories.
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.
The first form of the command shown above (using the
-D
option) sets and displays the defaults for the
userdel
utility.
See
user(8) for more information
about
EXTENSIONS
.
-
-
- -D
- Without any further options, -D will show
the current defaults which will be used by the userdel
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. This option is included if built with
EXTENSIONS
.
-
-
- -p
preserve-value
- Set the preservation value. If this value is one of
‘
true
’,
‘yes
’, or a non-zero number, then the
user login information will be preserved. This option is included if built
with EXTENSIONS
.
In the second form of the command, after setting any defaults, and then reading
values from
/etc/usermgmt.conf, the following command line
options are processed:
-
-
- -p
preserve-value
- Preserve the user information in the password file, but do
not allow the user to login, by switching the password to an
“impossible” one, and by setting the user's shell to the
nologin(8) program. This
option can be helpful in preserving a user's files for later use by
members of that person's group after the user has moved on. This value can
also be set in the /etc/usermgmt.conf file, using the
‘
preserve
’ field. If the field has any
of the values ‘true
’,
‘yes
’, or a non-zero number, then user
information preservation will take place. This option is included if built
with EXTENSIONS
.
-
-
- -r
- Remove the user's home directory, any subdirectories, and
any files and other entries in them.
-
-
- -S
- Allow a samba user name (with a trailing dollar sign) to be
deleted. This option is included if built with
EXTENSIONS
.
-
-
- -v
- Perform any actions in a verbose manner. This option is
included if built with
EXTENSIONS
.
Once the information has been verified,
userdel 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
userdel utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if
an error occurs.
SEE ALSO
passwd(5),
usermgmt.conf(5),
group(8),
nologin(8),
pwd_mkdb(8),
user(8),
useradd(8)
HISTORY
The
userdel utility first appeared in
NetBSD
1.5. It is based on the
addnerd package by the
same author.
AUTHORS
The
userdel utility was written by
Alistair
G. Crooks ⟨agc@NetBSD.org⟩.