NEWUSERS(8)                                           NEWUSERS(8)

NAME
       newusers - update and create new users in batch

SYNOPSIS
       newusers [ new_users ]

DESCRIPTION
       newusers  reads a file of user name and cleartext password
       pairs and uses this  information  to  update  a  group  of
       existing  users  or  to create new users.  Each line is in
       the  same  format  as  the  standard  password  file  (see
       passwd(5)) with the following exceptions.

       pw_passwd This field will be encrypted and used as the new
                 value of the encrpted password.

       pw_age    This field will be ignored for shadow  passwords
                 if the user already exists.

       pw_gid    This field may be the name of an existing group,
                 in which case the named user will be added as  a
                 member.   If  a  non-existent numerical group is
                 given, a new group will be created  having  this
                 number.

       pw_dir    This  field  will  be checked for existence as a
                 directory and a new directory with the same name
                 will  be  created  if it does not already exist.
                 The ownership of the directory will be set to be
                 that of the user being created or updated.

       This  command  is  intended  to  be used in a large system
       environment where many accounts are updated  at  a  single
       time.

CAVEATS
       The  input  file must be protected since it contains unen-
       crypted passwords.

SEE ALSO
       passwd(1), useradd(8)

AUTHOR
       Julianne Frances Haugh (jfh@tab.com)

                                                                1