The groupadd command is used by system administrators to add or create groups on Ubuntu Linux and other Linux systems. It is an essential tool for managing user and group accounts on a Linux system.
Groupadd creates new groups, modifies existing groups, and sets group permissions for files and directories. Using the groupadd command, you can specify the group ID (GID) for a new group, which determines the group’s numerical identification on the system.
Overall, the groupadd command is an essential tool for managing user and group accounts on a Linux system, and it is particularly useful for system administrators who need to manage large numbers of users and groups.
About groupadd command:
The groupadd command is used by system administrators to add/create groups on Linux systems. In addition, it can perform essential group management on Ubuntu and other Linux platforms.
Like using your mouse and keyboard to add groups or manage settings in the GUI., the groupadd is how to do it on the command line.
Syntax:
The syntax is the rule and format of how the groupadd command can be used. The syntax options can be reordered. But a straight format must be followed.,.
Below is an example syntax of how to use the groupadd command.
groupadd [options] GROUP
Options:
The command line options are switches or flags that determine how the commands are executed or controlled. They modify the behavior of the command. They are separated by spaces and followed after the command options.
Below are some options for the groupadd command:
| GROUP | Use the -f or –force option to exit with a success message if the group already exists. When used with the -g option and the group exists, a new GID is created |
| -f, –force | Use the -g or –gid GID for your new group. |
| -g, –gid GID | Use the -o or –non-unique option to allow the use of a duplicate (non-unique) GID |
| -o, –non-unique | Use the -R or –root CHROOT_DIR option set the directory to chroot into |
| -p, –password PASSWORD | Use the -P or –password PASSWORD option to change the password to this (encrypted) PASSWORD. |
| -R, –root CHROOT_DIR | Use the -R or –root CHROOT_DIR option sets the directory to chroot into |
| -h, –help | display this help message and exit |
Examples:
Below are some examples of how to run and use the groupadd on Ubuntu Linux.
To create a new group named members, you run the commands below.
groupadd members
You run the commands below if you wish to create a members group with a GID of 8080. by default, if you don’t specify a GID for a group, Linux automatically assigns one.
groupadd -g 8080 members
If you’re not logged in as a root account, you may have to use the sudo command.
sudo groupadd -g 8080 members
Assigning the automatic group id uses the GID_MIN and GID_MAX values specified in the /etc/login. defs config file. f you want to set your values, you can specify that using the -K option, as shown below
sudo groupadd -K GID_MIN=8080 -K GID_MAX=8090 members
In the example above, the groupadd command created the account with group id 8081, between the values 8000 – 9999 we specified in the command line.
When you run groupadd with the –help option, you’ll see the help text below:
Usage: groupadd [options] GROUP
Options:
-f, --force exit successfully if the group already exists,
and cancel -g if the GID is already used
-g, --gid GID use GID for the new group
-h, --help display this help message and exit
-K, --key KEY=VALUE override /etc/login.defs defaults
-o, --non-unique allow to create groups with duplicate
(non-unique) GID
-p, --password PASSWORD use this encrypted password for the new group
-r, --system create a system account
-R, --root CHROOT_DIR directory to chroot into
--extrausers Use the extra users database
That’s it!
I hope you like it, and please come back soon for more Ubuntu Linux commands!
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