Ubuntu Manpage: deluser, delgroup - remove a user or group from the system

NAME

       deluser, delgroup - remove a user or group from the system

SYNOPSIS

       deluser [--backup] [--backup-suffix str] [--backup-to dir] [--conf file] [--debug]
               [--remove-all-files] [--remove-home] [--quiet] [--verbose] [--stdoutmsglevel prio]
               [--stderrmsglevel prio] [--logmsglevel prio] user

       deluser [--system] [--backup] [--backup-suffix str] [--backup-to dir] [--conf file]
               [--debug] [--remove-all-files] [--remove-home] [--quiet] [--verbose]
               [--stdoutmsglevel prio] [--stderrmsglevel prio] [--logmsglevel prio] user

       deluser --group [--conf file] [--debug] [--only-if-empty] [--quiet] [--verbose]
               [--stdoutmsglevel prio] [--stderrmsglevel prio] [--logmsglevel prio] group
       delgroup [--system] [--conf file] [--debug] [--only-if-empty] [--quiet] [--verbose]
                [--stdoutmsglevel prio] [--stderrmsglevel prio] [--logmsglevel prio] group

       deluser [--conf file] [--debug] [--quiet] [--verbose] [--stdoutmsglevel prio]
               [--stderrmsglevel prio] [--logmsglevel prio] user group

       deluser --help

       deluser --version

DESCRIPTION

deluser and delgroup remove users and groups from the system according to command line
options and configuration information in /etc/deluser.conf and /etc/adduser.conf.

They are friendlier front ends to the userdel and groupdel programs, removing the home
directory as option or even all files on the system owned by the user to be removed,
running a custom script, and other features.

For a full list and explanations of all options, see the OPTIONS section.

deluser and delgroup can be run in one of three modes:

Remove a user
If called with one non-option argument and without the --group option, deluser will remove
a non-system user.

By default, deluser will remove the user without removing the home directory, the mail
spool or any other files on the system owned by the user. Removing the home directory and
mail spool can be achieved using the --remove-home option.

The --remove-all-files option removes all files on the system owned by the user. Note
that if you activate both options --remove-home will have no additional effect because all
files including the home directory and mail spool are already covered by the
--remove-all-files option.

If you want to backup all files before deleting them you can activate the --backup option
which will create a file username.tar(.gz|.bz2) in the directory specified by the
--backup-to option.

By default, the backup archive is compressed with gzip(1). To change this, the
--backup-suffix option can be set to any suffix supported by tar --auto-compress (e.g.
.gz, .bz2, .xz).

deluser will refuse to remove the root account.

If the --system option is given on the command line, the delete operation is actually
executed only if the user is a system user. This avoids accidentally deleting non-system
users. Additionally, if the user does not exist, no error value is returned. Debian
package maintainer scripts may use this flag to remove system users or groups while
ignoring the case where the removal already occurred.

Remove a group
If deluser is called with the --group option, or delgroup is called, a group will be
removed. The primary group of an existing user cannot be removed. If the option
--only-if-empty is given, the group won't be removed if it has any members left.

The --system option adds the same functionality as for users, respectively.

Remove a user from a specific group
If called with two non-option arguments, deluser will remove a user from a specific group.

OPTIONS

Different modes of deluser allow different options. If no valid modes are listed for a
option, it is accepted in all modes.

Short versions for certain options may exist for historical reasons. They are going to
stay supported, but are removed from the documentation. Users are advised to migrate to
the long version of options.

--backup
Backup all files contained in the userhome and the mailspool file to a file named
username.tar.bz2 or username.tar.gz. Valid Modes: deluser, deluser --system,

--backup-suffix str
Select compression algorithm for a home directory backup. Can be set to any suffix
recognized by tar --auto-compress. Defaults to .gz. Valid Modes: deluser, deluser
--system,

--backup-to dir
Place the backup files not in the current directory but in dir. This implicitly
sets --backup also. (defaulting to the current working directory). Valid Modes:
deluser, deluser --system,

--conf file
Use file instead of the default files /etc/deluser.conf and /etc/adduser.conf.
Multiple --conf options may be given.

--debug
Synonymous to --stdoutmsglevel=debug. Deprecated.

--group
Remove a group. This is the default action if the program is invoked as delgroup.
Valid Mode: deluser.

--help Display brief instructions.

--only-if-empty
Only remove if no members are left. Valid Modes: deluser --group, delgroup,

--quiet
Synonymous to --stdoutmsglevel=warn. Deprecated.

--remove-all-files
Remove all files from the system owned by this user. Note: --remove-home does not
have an effect any more. If --backup is specified, the files are deleted after
having performed the backup. Valid Modes: deluser, deluser --system,

--remove-home
Remove the home directory of the user and its mailspool. If --backup is specified,
the files are deleted after having performed the backup. Valid Modes: deluser,
deluser --system,

--system
Only delete if user/group is a system user/group. If the user does not exist, no
error value is returned. Valid Modes: deluser, deluser --system,

--verbose
Synonymous to --stdoutmsglevel=info. Deprecated.

--stdoutmsglevel prio
--stderrmsglevel prio
--logmsglevel prio
Minimum priority for messages logged to syslog/journal and the console,
respectively. Values are trace, debug, info, warn, err, and fatal. Messages with
the priority set here or higher get printed to the respective medium. Messages
printed to stderr are not repeated on stdout. That allows the local admin to
control adduser's chattiness on the console and in the log independently, keeping
probably confusing information to itself while still leaving helpful information in
the log.

--version
Display version and copyright information.

EXIT VALUES

       The exit values documented in adduser(8) also apply for deluser.

SECURITY

       deluser needs root privileges and offers, via  the  --conf  command  line  option  to  use
       different  configuration  files.   Do  not  use  sudo(8)  or similar tools to give partial
       privileges to deluser with restricted command line parameters.  This is easy to circumvent
       and  might  allow  users to create arbitrary accounts.  If you want this, consider writing
       your own wrapper script and giving privileges to execute that script.

FILES

       /etc/deluser.conf Default configuration file for deluser(8) and delgroup(8)

       /usr/local/sbin/deluser.local
              Optional custom add-ons, see deluser.local(8)