Adding and removing users on linux

Be root. To add a new user named Laila Sara with laila as the user name, do the following:

You will need nnnnn, the next free uid number, the numbers start with 10000 for trond. Check out the next number by typing tail /etc/passwd. Say it is 501.

Then make the group laila:

/usr/sbin/groupadd -g 501 laila

Then make the new user. Write the following command. It shall be written in one line, but is here written on multiple lines for readability.

 /usr/sbin/useradd
 -u 501 
 -g 501 
 -G cvs 
 -c "Laila Sara, Samisk inst."  
 laila

The user must own her own catalogue, but others may want to read it. This is achieved by writing:

chown laila:laila /home/laila

chmod 0755 /home/laila

Then assign the new user a password, by writing:

passwd laila

Remember to copy the .bashrc, .bash_profile and .emacs files to the laila account while you are still a root user. Remember to run the initial "cvs get" command.

If the user has forgot his/her own password, log in as root, and enter the command "passwd laila". You will not be prompted for the old password, and the new one you enters will erase the old one.

Adding users on mac server

Use the dscl command. This example would create the user "luser", like so:

dscl . -create /Users/luser
dscl . -create /Users/luser UserShell /bin/bash
dscl . -create /Users/luser RealName "Lucius Q. User"
dscl . -create /Users/luser UniqueID "1010"
dscl . -create /Users/luser PrimaryGroupID 80
dscl . -create /Users/luser NFSHomeDirectory /Users/luser
You can then use passwd to change the user's password, or use:

dscl . -passwd /Users/luser password

You'll have to create /Users/luser for the user's home directory and 
change ownership so the user can access it, and be sure that the 
UniqueID is in fact unique (via the command id 1010 etc.)

This line will add the user to the administrator's group:

dscl . -append /Groups/admin GroupMembership luser

Removing users on linux

For removing (in this example the user laila), be root, and use this command (-r removes the files of the user al well):

/usr/sbin/userdel -r laila
rm -r /export/home/laila
cd /var/yp
make 

A general warning: The commands that the manuals say should work, do work, if you just write /sbin/ in front of them, i.e. prbably /sbin/userdel instead of userdel.