what is a system group

Hewson · 03-29-2011, 01:32 PM

So I wanted to add a user to a new group. step 1 was to add the group. It'd been a while so i looked at man before executing the command for addgroup. There was the option of a

"system group"

Whats the difference between a system group and a user group?

From the man page ...

Code:

   Add a user group
       If adduser is called with the --group option and without the --system option, or addgroup is called respectively, a user  group  will
       be added.

       A GID will be chosen from the range specified for system GIDS in the configuration file (FIRST_GID, LAST_GID). To override that mech‐
       anism you can give the GID using the --gid option.

       The group is created with no users.

   Add a system group
       If addgroup is called with the --system option, a system group will be added.

       A GID will be chosen from the range specified for system GIDS in the configuration file (FIRST_SYSTEM_GID, LAST_SYSTEM_GID). To over‐
       ride that mechanism you can give the GID using the --gid option.

       The group is created with no users.

szboardstretcher · 03-29-2011, 01:40 PM

System groups are GIDs below 500.

User groups are above 500.

Other than that,.. im unsure of any difference.

splintercdo · 03-29-2011, 02:25 PM

szboardstretcher actually you are incorrect!

as you can see Hewson uses Kubuntu and in all debian systems gid's are defined like this:
http://www.debianhelp.co.uk/usersid.htm

szboardstretcher · 03-29-2011, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by splintercdo

szboardstretcher actually you are incorrect!

as you can see Hewson uses Kubuntu and in all debian systems gid's are defined like this:
http://www.debianhelp.co.uk/usersid.htm

Ok,.. I am *not* going to sit here and type out every user/system GID range on every OS that exists. But I will offer this piece of information:

This range can be specified. So, Debian can have one range, fedora another, slackware another, solaris another, Hp/ux another, redhat another, centos another... etc... etc...

There you have it. Make your own "System Group" and "User Group" range if you feel like it.