Introduction

Creating user accounts on OpenBSD can be done either using the adduser script or the useradd program.

Here is an example of using the adduser script.

""#adduser

 Use option ``-silent'' if you don't want to see all warnings and questions.

 Reading /etc/shells
 /etc/master.passwd
 Check /etc/group

 Ok, let's go.
 Don't worry about mistakes. There will be a chance later to correct any input.

 Enter username []: sij
 Enter full name []: Siju Oommen George
 Enter shell csh ksh nologin sh [ksh]: csh
 Uid [1001]: 
 Login group sij [sij]: 
 Login group is ``sij''. 
 Invite sij into other groups: guest no 
 [no]: wheel
 Login class authpf daemon default staff [default]: 
 Enter password []: 
 Enter password again []: 

 Name:        sij
 Password:    ****
 Fullname:    Siju Oommen George
 Uid:         1001
 Gid:         1001 (sij)
 Groups:      sij wheel
 Login Class: default
 HOME:        /home/sij
 Shell:       /bin/csh
 OK? (y/n) [y]: 
 Added user ``sij''
 Copy files from /etc/skel to /home/sij
 Add another user? (y/n) [y]: n
 Goodbye!

The default answers are always given in brackets so just press Enter to choose the default. In the given example we did not specify a Uid the system automatically selects the next assignable one. If required you can provide your own Uid. The password is not echoed as one types. After you create a user account like this you can see the corresponding entry in /etc/passwd It will look like this.

""sij:*:1001:1001:Siju Oommen George:/home/sij:/bin/csh

You can also see a corresponding entry in /etc/master.passwd that lookes like.

""sij:$2a$06$pVJNK8aa76rg4PZHYeHJ/.U.H1l3VqcQgUQ3y7pzlcq7Kx/odpEiG:1001:1001::0:0:Siju Oommen George:/home/sij:/bin/csh

where $2a$06$pVJNK8aa76rg4PZHYeHJ/.U.H1l3VqcQgUQ3y7pzlcq7Kx/odpEiG is the encrypted password.

This will also create a group called sij in /etc/group and add user sij to the wheel group.

""wheel:*:0:root,sgeorge,sij

""sij:*:1001:

Additional options and how to use them can be got from

""#man adduser

Now we will look at how we can use useradd to create an account.

""#useradd -D group users base_dir /home skel_dir /etc/skel shell /bin/ksh class
inactive Null (unset) expire Null (unset) range 1000..60000

The above command shows the defaults useradd will use if they are not over ridden while using command. To over ride values just specify them while using the command. For example to over ride the shell type:

""#useradd -m -s /bin/sh sij1

This will create user sij1 as you can see in /etc/passwd

""sij1:*:1002:1001::/home/sij1:/bin/sh

and in /etc/master.passwd

""sij1::1002:1001::0:0::/home/sij1:/bin/sh*

The password field is filled with * because the user is not assigned with a password. The account remains disabled until the user is assigned with a password. The passwd utility can be used to assign password for the user.

""#passwd sij1 Changing local password for sij1. New password: Retype new password:

The password will not echo. Now you can see the password field in /etc/master.passwd has the encrypted password.

""sij1:$2a$06$b0WIJdi/DNDOdGa9oRicm.fAHOkZEiT7HWhpzT3LMoPbs6dEk9nRe:1002:1001::0:0::/home/sij1:/bin/sh

The password can also be set using the -p option while using useradd

The -m is used to create the user's home directory.

More options and how to use then can be found by

""#man useradd

The /etc/passwd file can be safely edited by using the vipw utility.

""#vipw

vipw by defauls opens /etc/passwd for editing in the vi editor after the file is modified vipw performs a number of consistency checks on the password entries, and will not allow a password file with a ``mangled'' entry to be installed. If vipw rejects the new password file, the user is prompted to re-enter the edit session.

Deleting a user account on OpenBSD is done using the userdel command. To remove the user sij type.

""#userdel sij

This does not remove the user's home directory. In order to remove the home directory also use the -r option with userdel

""#userdel -r sij