User Accounts
  Carole Williams, carole@redhat.com


  Linuxconf can create and manage various types of user accounts.  Regu-
  lar login accounts allow users to manage files and access system pro-
  grams.  PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol) and SLIP (Serial Line Internet
  Protocol) accounts are accounts for users who dial in via point-to-
  point serial line connections. UUCP (UNIX to UNIX Copy Program)
  accounts allow for file transfers over direct serial connections or
  modems. POP (Post Office Protocol) accounts are for users who retrieve
  their e-mail from POP e-mail servers. Virtual POP accounts are the
  same as POP accounts, but they're used for virtual e-mail domains.
  ______________________________________________________________________

  Table of Contents


  1. AID CDATA login

     1.1 Base
     1.2 Mail Settings

  2. PPP Accounts

  3. SLIP Accounts Via Normal Login

  4. UUCP Accounts

  5. POP and Virtual POP Accounts (mail only)



  ______________________________________________________________________

  11..  LLooggiinn AAccccoouunnttss

  Users need login accounts in order to keep files and access programs
  on a Linux system.


  11..11..  BBaassee

  Base info is where you specify basic information about the user.



     TThhee aaccccoouunntt iiss eennaabblleedd
        New accounts are enabled by default.  If you want to disable an
        existing or new user's account, unselect this option.  Disabling
        a user's account is preferable to deleting a user's account,
        unless you need the storage space or you're certain that his/her
        data will not be needed in the future. If a user's account is
        disabled, they will not be allowed to log in.


     LLooggiinn nnaammee
        Also known as a username, you're required to fill in the Login
        name field when you're creating a user's account.  The login
        name is a string of text that uniquely identifies a particular
        account (from a human's perspective).  The user will need to
        type in their login name and a password when they log in.  The
        user's login name will also be used in their e-mail address.

        You may need some guidelines for login names.  A login name
        should be between three and eight lowercase characters.  More
        than eight characters can be used, but the characters beyond the
        eighth one will not be recognized by your system.  This could
        cause a problem if the differentiating characters between two
        usernames (for example, jamessmith and jamessmithers) are past
        the eighth character. To your system, the two usernames are the
        same.  The characters can include numbers and letters, but
        shouldn't include spaces or any special characters (except for -
        or _).

        You may want to standardize the format of login names. For
        example, you might use the first four letters of the person's
        last name plus their first initial, so Jane Smith would have a
        login name of smitj).  Standardized login names are easy for the
        users to remember; they also make it easy to figure out a
        person's login name from their real name.


     FFuullll nnaammee
        You should fill in the full name of the user if you're creating
        a new account. So, Jane Smith's full name would be Jane Smith.
        The user's full name will show up in their e-mail From: header,
        as well as in other places.

        You don't need to use all lowercase letters for the full name.
        You shouldn't include any colons in the full name; linuxconf
        will reward you with an error message if you do.  You shouldn't
        use an ampersand (&) in this field because it will resolve into
        the user's username.

        If you want, you can fill in more than just the user's name in
        the full name field. If the finger command is in use on your
        system, this field provides input for responses to the finger
        command. Commas are delimiters for finger information in the
        full name field (so if you have a user named John Smith, Jr.,
        you should type their name in without a comma: John Smith Jr.).
        You'll need to experiment with your system to see how the
        information in the Full name field is used to respond to finger
        commands.


     GGrroouupp::
        You don't have to fill in the user's initial default group; your
        system will fill one in for you if you leave it blank.  Every
        account is a member of at least one group.  Traditionally, UNIX
        and UNIX-like systems put users into default groups based upon
        the files or processes to which they need access.  For example,
        many systems have one primary user group called users, which
        includes all users (what a surprise).  On some systems, new
        users will automatically be assigned to the users group.

        The User Private Group (UPG) scheme is another way to assign
        users to groups.  With UPG, every user's default group is a
        group of one, which includes only that user.  For example, the
        user smitj is in a default group of smitj.  On Red Hat Linux
        systems, new users will automatically be assigned to their own
        group (their login name).


     SSuupppplleemmeennttaarryy ggrroouuppss
        Users can be members of groups other than their primary group.
        Usually, this is so that a group of users can access the same
        directory of files.


     HHoommee ddiirreeccttoorryy
        The system will automatically assign the user to a home
        directory, if you don't fill one in.  On some systems, the
        user's home directory is /home/username. For example, a new
        account with username smitj would be assigned a home directory
        of /home/smitj.


     CCoommmmaanndd iinntteerrpprreetteerr
        The user's command interpreter is the shell that the user will
        be in after a successful login.  Linuxconf offers many choices,
        but if you need to add one, use Config--Networking--Users
        Accounts--Available User Shells.


     UUsseerr IIDD
        The User ID number or UID is the number that the system uses to
        identify an account.  The system doesn't really care about the
        username; it identifies process and file ownership according to
        UIDs. You should just leave this field blank and let your system
        assign a UID to new users; it will default to the next UID
        available for regular users.



  11..22..  MMaaiill SSeettttiinnggss


  Under Mail settings, you can redirect e-mail messages from or to a
  particular user or alias.



     RReeddiirreecctt mmeessssaaggeess ttoo
        If you fill in an e-mail address here, e-mail messages to the
        user will go to the redirected address instead.


     EEmmaaiill aalliiaass
        An e-mail alias is a supplemental e-mail address that will be
        accepted by the system and forwarded on to a specific user. For
        example, you could add the alias jane_smith@yourdomain.com to
        user smitj's account.  Then, e-mail sent to
        jane_smith@yourdomain.com would automatically be forwarded to
        smitj@yourdomain.com.



  22..  PPPPPP AAccccoouunnttss


  PPP accounts are for users who dial in to your system via a modem.

  Most of the parameters for a PPP account should be filled in the same
  as a regular login account, so see ``'' if you need more information
  on login name, full name, home directory, user ID, and the mail
  settings.

  You can't set the group for a PPP user; all PPP accounts are in the
  pppusers group.

  The default command interpreter or login shell for a PPP user is
  /usr/lib/linuxconf/lib/ppplogin, which is a script for handling PPP
  logins.  If you have another command interpreter script for handling
  PPP logins, you'll need to add it to linuxconf's choices using
  Config--Networking--Users Accounts--Available PPP Shells.


  33..  SSLLIIPP AAccccoouunnttss VViiaa NNoorrmmaall LLooggiinn


  SLIP accounts are for users who dial in to your system via a modem.
  PPP is more commonly used than SLIP for this purpose.

  Most of the parameters for a SLIP account should be filled in the same
  as a regular login account. See ``'' if you need more information on
  login name, full name, home directory, user ID, and the mail settings.

  You can't set the group for a SLIP user; all SLIP accounts are in the
  slipusers group.

  The default command interpreter or login shell for a SLIP user is
  /sbin/diplogin, which is a symbolic link to the dip utility for
  handling dialup IP connections. If you have another script for
  handling SLIP logins, you'll need to add it to linuxconf's choices
  using Config--Networking--Users Accounts--Available SLIP Shells.


  44..  UUUUCCPP AAccccoouunnttss


  UUCP accounts allow for file transfers via direct serial connections
  or via modems.

  Most of the parameters for a UUCP account should be filled in the same
  as a regular login account. See ``'' if you need more information on
  login name, full name, user ID, and the mail settings.

  You can't set the group for a UUCP user; all UUCP accounts are in the
  uucp group.

  The default home directory for UUCP accounts is /var/spool/uucppublic;
  you can set this to a different directory if you use another place for
  UUCP file transfers.


  55..  PPOOPP aanndd VViirrttuuaall PPOOPP AAccccoouunnttss ((mmaaiill oonnllyy))


  POP accounts are used for e-mail. POP users download their entire
  mailbox from a POP server, manage their mail on their POP client, and
  then upload the mailbox back to the POP server.

  If you've defined a virtual e-mail domain (Config--Networking--Mail
  delivery system (sendmail)--virtual e-mail domain), you can define
  virtual POP accounts.  A virtual e-mail domain allows you to serve
  different e-mail domains from the same server.

  Most of the parameters for a POP account should be filled in the same
  as a regular login account.  See ``'' if you need more information on
  login name, full name, home directory, user ID, and the mail settings.

  You can't set the group for a POP user; all POP accounts are in the
  popusers group.