I'm experimenting with (k)Ubuntu after having used Mandrake 10.0 oe for a while. As a Debian-based installation, Ubuntu defaults to user numbers being 1000 or above; eg. the first user is 1000, the second is 1001, etc. (This is invisible to you unless you go digging.)

My documents and other files on my Mandrake (now Mandriva) configured drives are owned by user 500; in Mandrake, users are numbered 500 or above.

How do I tell Ubuntu that I want to add a user #500, and that it's a normal user, not a system process? I know the command-line is something like:

# useradd -u 500 mylogin

Is this going to cause any problems? Will Ubuntu think that "mylogin" is some "system" user, similar to the logins "www" or "nobody", which aren't real people but actually programs?

"How do I tell Ubuntu that I want to add a user #500, and that it's a normal user, not a system process? I know the command-line is something like:

# useradd -u 500 mylogin

Is this going to cause any problems? "

No. It should work OK.

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Steve Stites