NEWUSERS(8)

NAME
newusers - update and create new users in batch

SYNOPSIS

newusers [new_users]

DESCRIPTION

The newusers command reads a file of user name and clear-text password pairs and uses this information to update a group of existing users or to create new users. Each line is in the same format as the standard password file (see passwd(5)) with the following exceptions:

pw_passwd
    This field will be encrypted and used as the new value of the encrypted password.

pw_gid
    This field must contain the name (or number) of a group. The user will be added as a member to this group. When a non-existent group name or number is specified, a new group will be created. In the case of a non-existent group number, both the name and the number of the new group will be this number.

pw_dir
    This field will be checked for existence as a directory, and a new directory with this name will be created if it does not already exist. The ownership of the directory will be set to be that of the user being created or updated.

This command is intended to be used in a large system environment where many accounts are updated at a single time.

OPTIONS

The options which apply to the newusers command are:

-c, --crypt-method
    Use the specified method to encrypt the passwords.

    The available methods are DES, MD5, NONE, and SHA256 or SHA512 if your libc support these methods.

-r, --system
    Create a system account.

    System users will be created with no aging information in /etc/shadow, and their numeric identifiers are choosen in the SYS_UID_MIN-SYS_UID_MAX range, defined in login.defs, instead of UID_MIN-UID_MAX (and their GID counterparts for the creation of groups).

-s, --sha-rounds
    Use the specified number of rounds to encrypt the passwords.

    The value 0 means that the system will choose the default number of rounds for the crypt method (5000).

    A minimal value of 1000 and a maximal value of 999,999,999 will be enforced.

    You can only use this option with the SHA256 or SHA512 crypt method.

    By default, the number of rounds is defined by the SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS and SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS variables in /etc/login.defs.

CAVEATS

The input file must be protected since it contains unencrypted passwords.

PAM is not used to update the passwords. Only /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow are updated, and the various checks or options provided by PAM modules are not used.

CONFIGURATION

The following configuration variables in /etc/login.defs change the behavior of this tool:

ENCRYPT_METHOD (string)
    This defines the system default encryption algorithm for encrypting passwords (if no algorithm are specified on the command line).

    It can take one of these values:

        • DES (default)

        • MD5

        • SHA256

        • SHA512

        Note: this parameter overrides the MD5_CRYPT_ENAB variable.

        Note: if you use PAM, it is recommended to set this variable consistently with the PAM modules configuration.

GID_MAX (number), GID_MIN (number)
    Range of group IDs used for the creation of regular groups by useradd, useradd, or newusers.

MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP (number)
    Maximum members per group entry. When the maximum is reached, a new group entry (line) is started in /etc/group (with the same name, same password, and same GID).

    The default value is 0, meaning that there are no limits in the number of members in a group.

    This feature (split group) permits to limit the length of lines in the group file. This is useful to make sure that lines for NIS groups are not larger than 1024 characters.

    If you need to enforce such limit, you can use 25.

    Note: split groups may not be supported by all tools (even in the Shadow toolsuite. You should not use this variable unless you really need it.

MD5_CRYPT_ENAB (boolean)
    Indicate if passwords must be encrypted using the MD5-based algorithm. If set to yes, new passwords will be encrypted using the MD5-based algorithm compatible with the one used by recent releases of FreeBSD. It supports passwords of unlimited length and longer salt strings. Set to no if you need to copy encrypted passwords to other systems which don't understand the new algorithm. Default is no.

    This variable is superceded by the ENCRYPT_METHOD variable or by any command line option used to configure the encryption algorithm.

    This variable is deprecated. You should use ENCRYPT_METHOD.

    Note: if you use PAM, it is recommended to set this variable consistently with the PAM modules configuration.

PASS_MAX_DAYS (number)
    The maximum number of days a password may be used. If the password is older than this, a password change will be forced. If not specified, -1 will be assumed (which disables the restriction).

PASS_MIN_DAYS (number)
    The minimum number of days allowed between password changes. Any password changes attempted sooner than this will be rejected. If not specified, -1 will be assumed (which disables the restriction).

PASS_WARN_AGE (number)
    The number of days warning given before a password expires. A zero means warning is given only upon the day of expiration, a negative value means no warning is given. If not specified, no warning will be provided.

SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS (number), SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS (number)
    When ENCRYPT_METHOD is set to SHA256 or SHA512, this defines the number of SHA rounds used by the encryption algorithm by default (when the number of rounds is not specified on the command line).

    With a lot of rounds, it is more difficult to brute forcing the password. But note also that more CPU resources will be needed to authenticate users.

    If not specified, the libc will choose the default number of rounds (5000).

    The values must be inside the 1000-999999999 range.

    If only one of the SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS or SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS values is set, then this value will be used.

    If SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS > SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS, the highest value will be used.

SYS_GID_MAX (number), SYS_GID_MIN (number)
    Range of group IDs used for the creation of system groups by useradd, groupadd, or newusers.

SYS_UID_MAX (number), SYS_UID_MIN (number)
    Range of user IDs used for the creation of system users by useradd or newusers.

UID_MAX (number), UID_MIN (number)
    Range of user IDs used for the creation of regular users by useradd or newusers.

UMASK (number)
    The permission mask is initialized to this value. If not specified, the permission mask will be initialized to 022.

FILES

/etc/passwd
    User account information.

/etc/shadow
    Secure user account information.

/etc/group
    Group account information.

/etc/gshadow
    Secure group account information.

/etc/login.defs
    Shadow password suite configuration.

SEE ALSO

login.defs(5), passwd(1), useradd(8).