groupadd

GROUPADD(8)               System Management Commands               GROUPADD(8)

NAME
       groupadd - create a new group

SYNOPSIS
       groupadd [options] group

DESCRIPTION
       The groupadd command creates a new group account using the values
       specified on the command line plus the default values from the system.
       The new group will be entered into the system files as needed.

OPTIONS
       The options which apply to the groupadd command are:

       -f, --force
           This option causes the command to simply exit with success status
           if the specified group already exists. When used with -g, and the
           specified GID already exists, another (unique) GID is chosen (i.e.
           -g is turned off).

       -g, --gid GID
           The numerical value of the group's ID. This value must be unique,
           unless the -o option is used. The value must be non-negative. The
           default is to use the smallest ID value greater than or equal to
           GID_MIN and greater than every other group.

           See also the -r option and the GID_MAX description.

       -h, --help
           Display help message and exit.

       -K, --key KEY=VALUE
           Overrides /etc/login.defs defaults (GID_MIN, GID_MAX and others).
           Multiple -K options can be specified.

           Example: -K GID_MIN=100  -K GID_MAX=499

           Note: -K GID_MIN=10,GID_MAX=499 doesn't work yet.

       -o, --non-unique
           This option permits to add a group with a non-unique GID.

       -p, --password PASSWORD
           The encrypted password, as returned by crypt(3). The default is to
           disable the password.

           Note: This option is not recommended because the password (or
           encrypted password) will be visible by users listing the processes.

           You should make sure the password respects the system's password
           policy.

       -r, --system
           Create a system group.

           The numeric identifiers of new system groups are chosen in the
           SYS_GID_MIN-SYS_GID_MAX range, defined in login.defs, instead of
           GID_MIN-GID_MAX.

       -R, --root CHROOT_DIR
           Apply changes in the CHROOT_DIR directory and use the configuration
           files from the CHROOT_DIR directory.

       -P, --prefix PREFIX_DIR
           Apply changes in the PREFIX_DIR directory and use the configuration
           files from the PREFIX_DIR directory. This option does not chroot
           and is intended for preparing a cross-compilation target. Some
           limitations: NIS and LDAP users/groups are not verified. PAM
           authentication is using the host files. No SELINUX support.

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

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

           The default value for GID_MIN (resp.  GID_MAX) is 1000 (resp.
           60000).

       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.

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

           The default value for SYS_GID_MIN (resp.  SYS_GID_MAX) is 101
           (resp.  GID_MIN-1).

FILES
       /etc/group
           Group account information.

       /etc/gshadow
           Secure group account information.

       /etc/login.defs
           Shadow password suite configuration.

CAVEATS
       It is usually recommended to only use groupnames that begin with a
       lower case letter or an underscore, followed by lower case letters,
       digits, underscores, or dashes. They can end with a dollar sign. In
       regular expression terms: [a-z_][a-z0-9_-]*[$]?

       On Debian, the only constraints are that groupnames must neither start
       with a dash ('-') nor plus ('+') nor tilde ('~') nor contain a colon
       (':'), a comma (','), or a whitespace (space:' ', end of line: '\n',
       tabulation: '\t', etc.).

       On Ubuntu, the same constraints as Debian are in place, with the
       additional constraint that the groupname cannot be fully numeric. This
       includes octal and hexadecimal syntax.

       Groupnames may only be up to 32 characters long.

       You may not add a NIS or LDAP group. This must be performed on the
       corresponding server.

       If the groupname already exists in an external group database such as
       NIS or LDAP, groupadd will deny the group creation request.

EXIT VALUES
       The groupadd command exits with the following values:

       0
           success

       2
           invalid command syntax

       3
           invalid argument to option

       4
           GID not unique (when -o not used)

       9
           group name not unique

       10
           can't update group file

SEE ALSO
       chfn(1), chsh(1), passwd(1), gpasswd(8), groupdel(8), groupmod(8),
       login.defs(5), useradd(8), userdel(8), usermod(8).

shadow-utils 4.8.1                11/29/2022                       GROUPADD(8)