What's the real difference between "userdel" and "deluser"?

Mr. Alex · 08-07-2010, 10:03 AM

Tried to search Google but no clear information...

r3sistance · 08-07-2010, 10:07 AM

I am not able to find a command called deluser within centOS, if it's in Ubuntu it's probably just a soft link to userdel like adduser is usually a soft link to useradd. Maybe try doing "ls -l /usr/sbin/deluser" ?

If you see "/usr/sbin/deluser -> userdel" then you can fairly sure it's just a link.

druuna · 08-07-2010, 10:17 AM

Hi,

deluser (and adduser) are front-ends to the userdel (and useradd) commands.

Some distro's have these in place next to the "real" userdel command. They (deluser/adduser) are supposed to be more user friendly.

Hope this helps.

Found this: adduser, addgroup, deluser and delgroup

Mr. Alex · 08-07-2010, 10:26 AM

Code:

$ ls -l /usr/sbin/deluser
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 16490 2010-01-27 13:26 /usr/sbin/deluser

$ ls -l /usr/sbin/userdel 
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 51828 2010-01-26 20:09 /usr/sbin/userdel

About adduser and useradd: useradd is a command; adduser is a Perl script.

AlucardZero · 08-07-2010, 10:28 AM

man adduser

Code:

DESCRIPTION
       adduser  and addgroup add users and groups to the system according to command line options
       and configuration information in /etc/adduser.conf.  They are friendlier front ends to the
       low  level  tools  like useradd, groupadd and usermod programs, by default choosing Debian
       policy conformant UID and GID values, creating a home directory with  skeletal  configura‐
       tion, running a custom script, and other features.