adduser shell script having some problems.

cramer · 06-10-2006, 08:21 PM

I am a little rusty on my shell scripting but I am making a script to automatically create users using the variables provided. Here is the script itself followed by the error I recieve when I run it.

Code:

#!/bin/sh

# adduser
adduser $1 -p $2

# copy files
cp /usrfiles/config /home/$1
cp -Rf /usrfiles/steam /home/$1

# change user and group
cd /home/$1
chown $1 config
chown -Rf $1 steam
chgrp $1 config
chgrp -Rf $1 steam

# display info
if [ -d /home/$1 ]; then
        echo "User $1 created with home directory of /home/$1"
else
        echo "No user created"

Now the error:

Code:

[root@localhost ~]# newuser greg asdfasdf
adduser: user greg exists
cp: cannot overwrite non-directory `/home/greg' with directory `/usrfiles/steam'
/bin/newuser: line 11: cd: /home/greg: No such file or directory
chown: cannot access `config': No such file or directory
chown: cannot access `steam': No such file or directory
chgrp: cannot access `config': No such file or directory
chgrp: cannot access `steam': No such file or directory
/bin/newuser: line 23: syntax error: unexpected end of file

The weird thing here is this:

Code:

[root@localhost /]# ls /home
config  greg  jkkdc  kimball

greg is not a directory though, it is a file that is blank and owned by root. Any ideas?

Dark_Helmet · 06-10-2006, 08:55 PM

Well, a couple of things:

First, this error

Quote:

adduser: user greg exists

implies hat you've run the script before using "greg" as a test case and never removed him, or that greg is a legitimate user.

Second, the next sequence of errors can be explained if a basic assumption in your scipt fails. That is, you call adduser, and your script assumes adduser will create a home directory (/home/greg). What if it doesn't? If it doesn't, then your next command:

Quote:

cp /usrfiles/config /home/$1

would copy /usrfiles/config to a file named /home/greg--not into a directory named /home/greg because the directory wasn't created.

That means the cd fails, all the other ownership/permissions changing stuff also fail.

Third, your if-else statement needs a "fi" at the end:

Code:

# display info
if [ -d /home/$1 ]; then
        echo "User $1 created with home directory of /home/$1"
else
        echo "No user created"
fi

I would suggest using the standard tools for all this (that's what they are there for

)

Read the man page for adduser (sometimes named useradd) and read about the options, specifically -m and -p. The reason I suggest -p is because the password argument is expected to have already been passed through crypt. That is, if your script had worked, "asdfasdf" would be the encrypted form of the password and not the text a user would type to login.

cramer · 06-10-2006, 09:23 PM

Thanks for the quick and thorough reply. Yea I did run the script before as greg for a test. My bad there. I had a simliar script like this before that worked well, but that got deleted so I am writing this one. been a while, thanks again, I'll take a look at this.