From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jun 25 13:00:23 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3BC6916A4CE for ; Fri, 25 Jun 2004 13:00:23 +0000 (GMT) Received: from internet.potentialtech.com (h-66-167-251-6.phlapafg.covad.net [66.167.251.6]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0795F43D1D for ; Fri, 25 Jun 2004 13:00:23 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from wmoran@potentialtech.com) Received: from working.potentialtech.com (pa-plum-cmts1e-68-68-113-64.pittpa.adelphia.net [68.68.113.64]) by internet.potentialtech.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id D5E4469A3F; Fri, 25 Jun 2004 09:00:20 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2004 09:00:19 -0400 From: Bill Moran To: Matthew Seaman Message-Id: <20040625090019.4817aef3.wmoran@potentialtech.com> In-Reply-To: <20040625124942.GB16335@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk> References: <000001c45a68$b61c67b0$6601a8c0@james09sc2chsi> <20040625121845.GA16335@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk> <20040625083025.58e21223.wmoran@potentialtech.com> <20040625124942.GB16335@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk> Organization: Potential Technologies X-Mailer: Sylpheed version 0.9.10 (GTK+ 1.2.10; i386-portbld-freebsd4.9) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit cc: JBell@TheAdelphian.com cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: newuser X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2004 13:00:23 -0000 Matthew Seaman wrote: > On Fri, Jun 25, 2004 at 08:30:25AM -0400, Bill Moran wrote: > > Matthew Seaman wrote: > > > > > On Thu, Jun 24, 2004 at 11:58:41PM -0400, James Bell wrote: > > > > > > > > I have BSD UNIX. > > > > > > > > What commands should I use from the root to create a new user. > > > > > > Essentially: > > > > > > # pw useradd -n name -m > > > # passwd name > > > > > > I suggest that you immediately read the pw(8) man page and the > > > appropriate section of the Handbook: > > > > > > http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/users.html > > > > Um ... no offense, Matt, but isn't that a bit overly difficult for a new > > user? > > I think that's an unreasonably pessimistic view of the capabilities of > new users. Not what I intended. > pw(8) is not (IMHO) particularly difficult to use. Agreed. > Yes, > there are a lot of different options for doing various things, but if > you adopt the principle of not fiddling with the bits you don't (yet) > understand, pw(8) basically does the right thing. pw(8) also has a > very nifty feature where you can just stick 'help' into the command > line and it tells you what options are available. My point was that adduser walks you through all the steps required to create a user (such as entering the GECOS stuff, and picking a shell, creating a home directory (although you handled that with -m)) Personally, I understand pw, and yet I find adduser to simply be more convenient. I guess that was my real point. The difficulty in user managemet on a Unix system (to a new user) is not the commands themselves, but all the various steps required to actually create a useful user account. adduser puts those all together in a "wizard" fashon, while pw gives you lots of opportunities to forget steps. > > Try adduser ... the manpage is pretty informative. > > TIMTOWTDI. OK, you're going to have to enlighten me by letting me know what that abbreviation stands for. -- Bill Moran Potential Technologies http://www.potentialtech.com