groupadd.1m (2010 09)

g
groupadd(1M) groupadd(1M)
NAME
groupadd - add a new group to the system
SYNOPSIS
groupadd [-g gid [-o]] group
DESCRIPTION
The
groupadd command creates a new group on the system by adding the appropriate entry to the
/etc/group file. The groupadd command must be used with the group argument, which is the name
of the new group. The name consists of a string of printable characters that may not include a colon (
:)
or newline (
\n).
Refer to usergroupname(5) to understand the functionality changes with the Numeric User Group Name
feature.
Options
The
groupadd command uses the following options:
-g gid Specify the group ID for the new group. gid must be a non-negative decimal integer less
than
MAXUID as defined in the
<param.h> header file. By default the next available
unique group ID in the valid range is allocated. Group IDs in the range 0-99 are
reserved.
-o Allow the gid to be non-unique (that is, a duplicate).
NIS
The
groupadd command is aware of NIS user entries. Only local groups may be added with this com-
mand. Attempts to add an NIS group will result in an error. NIS groups must be administered from the
NIS server. If groupadd is used on a system where NIS is installed, it may fail with the error
group x is not unique
(return value 9) if the group specified is not present in the local /etc/group file, but is an NIS group
(see group(4)). NIS groups are also checked when verifying uniqueness of the new gid, which may result
in the error
GID # is not unique
(return value 4).
RETURN VALUE
The
groupadd command exits with one of the following values:
0 No error.
2 Invalid command syntax.
3 Invalid argument supplied to an option.
4 gid is not unique (when -o is not used).
9 group is not unique.
10 Cannot modify the /etc/group file.
11 /etc/passwd file or /etc/ptmp file busy. Another command may be modifying the
/etc/passwd file.
12 Unable to open /etc/ptmp file or /etc/passwd file is non-existent.
EXAMPLES
Add the group
project1 to the /etc/group file.
groupadd project1
Add the group project12 to the /etc/group file with the group ID 111 as long as no group currently
exists with a group ID of 111.
groupadd -g 111 project12
WARNINGS
Because many users may try to write the /etc/passwd file simultaneously, a password locking
mechanism was devised. If this locking fails after subsequent retrying, groupadd terminates.
HP-UX 11i Version 3: September 2010 − 1 − Hewlett-Packard Company 1