deluser

DELUSER(8)                  System Manager's Manual                 DELUSER(8)

NAME
       deluser, delgroup - remove a user or group from the system

SYNOPSIS
       deluser   [options]   [--force]   [--remove-home]  [--remove-all-files]
       [--backup] [--backup-to DIR] user

       deluser --group [options] group
       delgroup [options] [--only-if-empty] group

       deluser [options] user group

   COMMON OPTIONS
       [--quiet] [--system] [--help] [--version] [--conf FILE]

DESCRIPTION
       deluser and delgroup remove users and groups from the system  according
       to    command   line   options   and   configuration   information   in
       /etc/deluser.conf and /etc/adduser.conf.   They  are  friendlier  front
       ends  to the userdel and groupdel programs, removing the home directory
       as option or even all files on the system owned by the user to  be  re-
       moved,  running  a custom script, and other features.  deluser and del-
       group can be run in one of three modes:

   Remove a normal user
       If called with one non-option argument and without the --group  option,
       deluser will remove a normal user.

       By  default, deluser will remove the user without removing the home di-
       rectory, the mail spool  or any other files on the system owned by  the
       user.  Removing the home directory and mail spool can be achieved using
       the --remove-home option.

       The --remove-all-files option removes all files on the system owned  by
       the  user.  Note  that  if you activate both options --remove-home will
       have no effect because all files including the home directory and  mail
       spool are already covered by the --remove-all-files option.

       If  you  want to backup all files before deleting them you can activate
       the --backup option which will create a file username.tar(.gz|.bz2)  in
       the  directory  specified  by the --backup-to option (defaulting to the
       current working directory). Both the remove and backup options can also
       be  activated  for default in the configuration file /etc/deluser.conf.
       See deluser.conf(5) for details.

       If you want to remove the root account (uid 0), then  use  the  --force
       parameter; this may prevent to remove the root user by accident.

       If  the  file /usr/local/sbin/deluser.local exists, it will be executed
       after the user account has been  removed  in  order  to  do  any  local
       cleanup. The arguments passed to deluser.local are:
       username uid gid home-directory

   Remove a group
       If  deluser is called with the --group option, or delgroup is called, a
       group will be removed.

       Warning: The primary group of an existing user cannot be removed.

       If the option --only-if-empty is given, the group won't be  removed  if
       it has any members left.

   Remove a user from a specific group
       If  called  with  two  non-option arguments, deluser will remove a user
       from a specific group.

OPTIONS
       --conf FILE
              Use FILE instead of  the  default  files  /etc/deluser.conf  and
              /etc/adduser.conf

       --group
              Remove a group. This is the default action if the program is in-
              voked as delgroup.

       --help Display brief instructions.

       --quiet
              Suppress progress messages.

       --system
              Only delete if user/group is a system  user/group.  This  avoids
              accidentally  deleting non-system users/groups. Additionally, if
              the user does not exist, no error value is returned. This option
              is mainly for use in Debian package maintainer scripts.

       --only-if-empty
              Only remove if no members are left.

       --backup
              Backup  all  files  contained in the userhome and the mailspool-
              file to a file named /$user.tar.bz2 or /$user.tar.gz.

       --backup-to
              Place the backup files not in / but in the  directory  specified
              by this parameter. This implicitly sets --backup also.

       --remove-home
              Remove  the  home  directory  of  the user and its mailspool. If
              --backup is specified, the files are deleted after  having  per-
              formed the backup.

       --remove-all-files
              Remove all files from the system owned by this user. Note: --re-
              move-home does not have an effect any more. If --backup is spec-
              ified, the files are deleted after having performed the backup.

       --version
              Display version and copyright information.

RETURN VALUE
       0      The action was successfully executed.

       1      The  user to delete was not a system account. No action was per-
              formed.

       2      There is no such user. No action was performed.

       3      There is no such group. No action was performed.

       4      Internal error. No action was performed.

       5      The group to delete is not empty. No action was performed.

       6      The user does not belong to the specified group. No  action  was
              performed.

       7      You  cannot  remove a user from its primary group. No action was
              performed.

       8      The required perl-package 'perl modules' is not installed.  This
              package  is required to perform the requested actions. No action
              was performed.

       9      For removing the root account the  parameter  "--force"  is  re-
              quired. No action was performed.

FILES
       /etc/deluser.conf Default configuration file for deluser and delgroup

       /usr/local/sbin/deluser.local
              Optional custom add-ons.

SEE ALSO
       adduser(8), deluser.conf(5), groupdel(8), userdel(8)

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright  (C)  2000  Roland  Bauerschmidt. Modifications (C) 2004 Marc
       Haber and Joerg Hoh.  This manpage and the deluser program are based on
       adduser which is:
       Copyright (C) 1997, 1998, 1999 Guy Maor.
       Copyright (C) 1995 Ted Hajek, with a great deal borrowed from the orig-
       inal Debian adduser
       Copyright (C) 1994 Ian Murdock.  deluser is free software; see the  GNU
       General  Public  Licence  version  2  or  later for copying conditions.
       There is no warranty.

Debian GNU/Linux             Version 3.118ubuntu2                   DELUSER(8)