Need Help on User Admin Task

[David A. Bandel]

On Sun, 29 Jun 2003 18:51:14 +0800
Chong Yu Meng <chongym at cymulacrum.net> wrote:

> Hello All!
> 
> Something that has been bugging me for a while. This may seem like an 
> elementary task (which is probably why I can't find information on it 
> using Google) but I need to create a user with the following 
> characteristics :
> 
> - using 'useradd' command
> - no login shell
> - owner of a daemon that runs under that user.
> 
> Something like the user that apache runs under. What is the full 
> command, including options, that I should execute? The reason for this
> 
> sudden need is because of something that affects Jakarta Tomcat.
> 

The useradd command itself is fairly simple.  However ...
1.  no login shell:  on most systems, this is not feasible.  If
/etc/shells exists, it will be used, and the user cannot be used without
a shell (/bin/false qualifies as a "shell").  Even if you only need the
user to own a daemon, give the user a shell -- just no password (lock
the account -- default until you set a password).
2.  do you mean a user that owns a daemon, or when that user is called a
command runs?  IF the second, the command must be put in /etc/shells and
that becomes that users "shell" (like the shutdown user)

assuming you want a daemon owned by a user:
useradd -d /path/to/daemon -s /bin/false username
using -u allows you to specify a specific UID
using -g allows you to specify a specific GID (must exist, use groupadd
to add one)
using -m allows you to create a home directory (you probably don't want
to do this)
the -d adds a "home directory" path
the -s is the shell name (make sure the shell exists in /etc/shells if
your distro uses it)

HTH,

David A. Bandel
-- 
Focus on the dream, not the competition.
		Nemesis Racing Team motto
GPG key autoresponder:  mailto:david_key at pananix.com
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