NAME

       usermod - modify a user account

SYNOPSIS

       usermod [options] LOGIN

DESCRIPTION

       The usermod command modifies the system account files to reflect the changes that are
       specified on the command line.

OPTIONS

       The options which apply to the usermod command are:

       -a, --append
           Add the user to the supplementary group(s). Use only with the -G option.

       -c, --comment COMMENT
           The new value of the user's password file comment field. It is normally modified using
           the chfn(1) utility.

       -d, --home HOME_DIR
           The user's new login directory.

           If the -m option is given, the contents of the current home directory will be moved to
           the new home directory, which is created if it does not already exist.

       -e, --expiredate EXPIRE_DATE
           The date on which the user account will be disabled. The date is specified in the
           format YYYY-MM-DD.

           An empty EXPIRE_DATE argument will disable the expiration of the account.

           This option requires a /etc/shadow file. A /etc/shadow entry will be created if there
           were none.

       -f, --inactive INACTIVE
           The number of days after a password expires until the account is permanently disabled.

           A value of 0 disables the account as soon as the password has expired, and a value of
           -1 disables the feature.

           This option requires a /etc/shadow file. A /etc/shadow entry will be created if there
           were none.

       -g, --gid GROUP
           The group name or number of the user's new initial login group. The group must exist.

           Any file from the user's home directory owned by the previous primary group of the
           user will be owned by this new group.

           The group ownership of files outside of the user's home directory must be fixed
           manually.

       -G, --groups GROUP1[,GROUP2,...[,GROUPN]]]
           A list of supplementary groups which the user is also a member of. Each group is
           separated from the next by a comma, with no intervening whitespace. The groups are
           subject to the same restrictions as the group given with the -g option.

           If the user is currently a member of a group which is not listed, the user will be
           removed from the group. This behaviour can be changed via the -a option, which appends
           the user to the current supplementary group list.

       -l, --login NEW_LOGIN
           The name of the user will be changed from LOGIN to NEW_LOGIN. Nothing else is changed.
           In particular, the user's home directory or mail spool should probably be renamed
           manually to reflect the new login name.

       -L, --lock
           Lock a user's password. This puts a '!' in front of the encrypted password,
           effectively disabling the password. You can't use this option with -p or -U.

           Note: if you wish to lock the account (not only access with a password), you should
           also set the EXPIRE_DATE to 1.

       -m, --move-home
           Move the content of the user's home directory to the new location.

           This option is only valid in combination with the -d (or --home) option.

           usermod will try to adapt the ownership of the files and to copy the modes, ACL and
           extended attributes, but manual changes might be needed afterwards.

       -o, --non-unique
           When used with the -u option, this option allows to change the user ID to a non-unique
           value.

       -p, --password PASSWORD
           The encrypted password, as returned by crypt(3).

           Note: This option is not recommended because the password (or encrypted password) will
           be visible by users listing the processes.

           The password will be written in the local /etc/passwd or /etc/shadow file. This might
           differ from the password database configured in your PAM configuration.

           You should make sure the password respects the system's password policy.

       -R, --root CHROOT_DIR
           Apply changes in the CHROOT_DIR directory and use the configuration files from the
           CHROOT_DIR directory.

       -s, --shell SHELL
           The name of the user's new login shell. Setting this field to blank causes the system
           to select the default login shell.

       -u, --uid UID
           The new numerical value of the user's ID.

           This value must be unique, unless the -o option is used. The value must be
           non-negative.

           The user's mailbox, and any files which the user owns and which are located in the
           user's home directory will have the file user ID changed automatically.

           The ownership of files outside of the user's home directory must be fixed manually.

           No checks will be performed with regard to the UID_MIN, UID_MAX, SYS_UID_MIN, or
           SYS_UID_MAX from /etc/login.defs.

       -U, --unlock
           Unlock a user's password. This removes the '!' in front of the encrypted password. You
           can't use this option with -p or -L.

           Note: if you wish to unlock the account (not only access with a password), you should
           also set the EXPIRE_DATE (for example to 99999, or to the EXPIRE value from
           /etc/default/useradd).

       -v, --add-sub-uids FIRST-LAST
           Add a range of subordinate uids to the users account.

           This option may be specified multiple times to add multiple ranges to a users account.

           No checks will be performed with regard to SUB_UID_MIN, SUB_UID_MAX, or SUB_UID_COUNT
           from /etc/login.defs.

       -V, --del-sub-uids FIRST-LAST
           Remove a range of subordinate uids from the users account.

           This option may be specified multiple times to remove multiple ranges to a users
           account. When both --del-sub-uids and --add-sub-uids are specified remove of all
           subordinate uid ranges happens before any subordinate uid ranges are added.

           No checks will be performed with regard to SUB_UID_MIN, SUB_UID_MAX, or SUB_UID_COUNT
           from /etc/login.defs.

       -w, --add-sub-gids FIRST-LAST
           Add a range of subordinate gids to the users account.

           This option may be specified multiple times to add multiple ranges to a users account.

           No checks will be performed with regard to SUB_GID_MIN, SUB_GID_MAX, or SUB_GID_COUNT
           from /etc/login.defs.

       -W, --del-sub-gids FIRST-LAST
           Remove a range of subordinate gids from the users account.

           This option may be specified multiple times to remove multiple ranges to a users
           account. When both --del-sub-gids and --add-sub-gids are specified remove of all
           subordinate gid ranges happens before any subordinate gid ranges are added.

           No checks will be performed with regard to SUB_GID_MIN, SUB_GID_MAX, or SUB_GID_COUNT
           from /etc/login.defs.

       -Z, --selinux-user SEUSER
           The new SELinux user for the user's login.

           A blank SEUSER will remove the SELinux user mapping for user LOGIN (if any).

CAVEATS

       You must make certain that the named user is not executing any processes when this command
       is being executed if the user's numerical user ID, the user's name, or the user's home
       directory is being changed.  usermod checks this on Linux, but only check if the user is
       logged in according to utmp on other architectures.

       You must change the owner of any crontab files or at jobs manually.

       You must make any changes involving NIS on the NIS server.

CONFIGURATION

       The following configuration variables in /etc/login.defs change the behavior of this tool:

       MAIL_DIR (string)
           The mail spool directory. This is needed to manipulate the mailbox when its
           corresponding user account is modified or deleted. If not specified, a compile-time
           default is used.

       MAIL_FILE (string)
           Defines the location of the users mail spool files relatively to their home directory.

       The MAIL_DIR and MAIL_FILE variables are used by useradd, usermod, and userdel to create,
       move, or delete the user's mail spool.

       MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP (number)
           Maximum members per group entry. When the maximum is reached, a new group entry (line)
           is started in /etc/group (with the same name, same password, and same GID).

           The default value is 0, meaning that there are no limits in the number of members in a
           group.

           This feature (split group) permits to limit the length of lines in the group file.
           This is useful to make sure that lines for NIS groups are not larger than 1024
           characters.

           If you need to enforce such limit, you can use 25.

           Note: split groups may not be supported by all tools (even in the Shadow toolsuite).
           You should not use this variable unless you really need it.

FILES

       /etc/group
           Group account information.

       /etc/gshadow
           Secure group account information.

       /etc/login.defs
           Shadow password suite configuration.

       /etc/passwd
           User account information.

       /etc/shadow
           Secure user account information.

SEE ALSO

       chfn(1), chsh(1), passwd(1), crypt(3), gpasswd(8), groupadd(8), groupdel(8), groupmod(8),
       login.defs(5), useradd(8), userdel(8).