groupdel

GROUPDEL(8)               System Management Commands               GROUPDEL(8)

NAME
       groupdel - delete a group

SYNOPSIS
       groupdel [options] GROUP

DESCRIPTION
       The groupdel command modifies the system account files, deleting all
       entries that refer to GROUP. The named group must exist.

OPTIONS
       The options which apply to the groupdel command are:

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

       -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.

CAVEATS
       You may not remove the primary group of any existing user. You must
       remove the user before you remove the group.

       You should manually check all file systems to ensure that no files
       remain owned by this group.

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

       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.

FILES
       /etc/group
           Group account information.

       /etc/gshadow
           Secure group account information.

EXIT VALUES
       The groupdel command exits with the following values:

       0
           success

       2
           invalid command syntax

       6
           specified group doesn't exist

       8
           can't remove user's primary group

       10
           can't update group file

SEE ALSO
       chfn(1), chsh(1), passwd(1), gpasswd(8), groupadd(8), groupmod(8),
       useradd(8), userdel(8), usermod(8).

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