creating/adding new user to system

sniper8752 · 05-07-2013, 09:48 PM

I would like to add a new user to the system. There are a few things though that must be done:

1) they must be part of a certain group
2) they must have the specified home folder

here is my code:

Code:

sudo adduser --groups ftpaccounts --home /home/user/testuser

I get the error: Unknown option: groups.

I also tried just group, but then it tells me that "the group, 'ftpaccounts' already exists'" (this group does exist already). What am I doing wrong?

EDIT: now that I think of it, this user probably doesn't even need a home directory if they are just uploading files.

evo2 · 05-07-2013, 10:06 PM

Hi,

are you sure the version of adduser you are using has a "--groups" option? I suggest you read the man page. Anyway, a bigger problem seems to be that you did not specify the user (which is a mandatory parameter).

Evo2.

sniper8752 · 05-07-2013, 10:11 PM

oh yea that may help. I think I meant to have a space in there.

here is what I get now:

sudo adduser --group ftpaccounts --home /home/user/ testuser
adduser: Specify only one name in this mode.

evo2 · 05-07-2013, 10:14 PM

Hi,

seems you did not read the man page. On my system, the man page indicates that the --groups option is is only valid when using --system (which presumably is not what you want). Perhaps what you want is --ingroup.

Evo2.

shivaa · 05-07-2013, 10:26 PM

Why not simply use useradd: http://linux.die.net/man/8/useradd

Code:

~# useradd --group <groupname> -m --home /path/to/home_dir <username>
OR
~# useradd -g <groupname> -m -d /path/to/home_dir <username>

evo2 · 05-07-2013, 10:36 PM

Hi,

Quote:

Originally Posted by shivaa

Why not simply use useradd: http://linux.die.net/man/8/useradd

Need to be a little careful here, both useradd and adduser can be different on different systems. It's best to read the man pages on the system in use (useradd on my Debian does not have a --group option, and nor does the man page linked to above).

Evo2.

sniper8752 · 05-07-2013, 10:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shivaa

Why not simply use useradd: http://linux.die.net/man/8/useradd

Code:

~# useradd --group <groupname> -m --home /path/to/home_dir <username>
OR
~# useradd -g <groupname> -m -d /path/to/home_dir <username>

The second one seemed to work for me.

evo2 · 05-07-2013, 10:42 PM

Hi,

Quote:

Originally Posted by sniper8752

The second one seemed to work for me. I just didn't decide to give them a home folder.

Did you end up reading the man page or did you just proceed by trial and error? I'd like to warn against the later: it can be dangerous running random commands with random options as root.

Evo2.

sniper8752 · 05-07-2013, 10:42 PM

I read it, and some of them online as well. Some of it was trial and error to see what worked.

sniper8752 · 05-07-2013, 10:49 PM

what's the difference between home-dir and base-dir? is home dir, their home directory, and base-dir, where they are always set by default?

evo2 · 05-07-2013, 11:00 PM

Hi,

Quote:

Originally Posted by sniper8752

what's the difference between home-dir and base-dir? is home dir, their home directory, and base-dir, where they are always set by default?

the fist option listed in the man page...

Quote:

-b, --base-dir BASE_DIR
The default base directory for the system if -d HOME_DIR is not specified. BASE_DIR is concatenated with
the account name to define the home directory. If the -m option is not used, BASE_DIR must exist.

Regarding defaults, also from the man page:

Quote:

/etc/default/useradd
Default values for account creation.

Evo2.

sniper8752 · 05-07-2013, 11:07 PM

I am following this tutorial, and am also stuck here:

chown testuser:ftpaccounts /home/user

I tried this, and it did not work for me.

http://knowledgelayer.softlayer.com/...t-within-linux

I looked at the examples at the bottom of this page
http://linux.die.net/man/1/chown

I only got errors like this:

sudo chown ftpaccounts /home/testuser
chown: invalid user: `ftpaccounts'

this one worked though:

sudo chown testuser /home/testuser

chrism01 · 05-07-2013, 11:11 PM

The latter error msg is correct.
You've got group(!) called ftpaccounts, not a 'user'. Your chown cmd num 2 defaults to assuming owner (ie user) if you don't specify what you meant.

sniper8752 · 05-08-2013, 11:36 AM

Yes- I think what it is doing in the tutorial, is giving the directory permissions to the user and the group.
Are you not able to allow a group access to a home directory? Isn't that what they are esentially doing, with "testuser:ftpaccounts"?

shivaa · 05-08-2013, 12:37 PM

Simply follow this syntax:

Code:

~$ chown <owner>:<group> /path/to/directory
OR
~$ chown <owner>.<group> /path/to/directory

Where owner is username whom you want to make as owner of the directory. Moreoever, use -R flag to change permissions recursively i.e. on file/directories thaat are inside the /path/to/directory.