![[Previous Section]](b_prev.gif){kind=small}
![[Back to Table of Contents]](b_toc.gif){kind=small}
![[Next Section]](b_next.gif){kind=small}
Personal System Administration Guide |
The User Manager lets a Privileged User create and manage user login accounts. The User Manager window shows the following information about each login account.
The User Account column shows the login name of each user.
The Full Name column shows the real name of the person who owns
the login account.
The Group column shows the group to which the user belongs.
The Privilege Level column shows whether the user has User privileges, Privileged User privileges, or Administrator privileges; see also "About User Privileges and the Primary User."
Click the topic about which you want more information.
"Understanding
User Accounts, Groups, and the Network"
"Creating
a User Login Account"
"Customizing
a User Login Account"
"Creating,
Changing, and Deleting Passwords"
"Deleting
a User Login Account"
"Viewing
a User's Business Card"
"Designating
the Administrator with the User Manager"
"Designating
Privileged Users"
The User Manager lets only the Administrator create and add users to a group; it does not let the Administrator delete users from groups or delete groups. See "Managing User Groups" for this information.
This section contains these topics:
For information about different user types and access privileges, see "About User Privileges and the Primary User."
Each person who uses this system regularly must have a personal login account. A login account gives a person a unique work area on the system (a home directory) where the person can store files and customize the desktop environment. The system automatically labels the work area and all files that the person creates with the person's login name (a short version of the person's real name or initials); the person can then mark the files public or private. Each time the person begins a session on the system, he types his login name and, if necessary, an associated password. For more information on logging in, see "Logging In to the System."
The login account can also include contact information about the person (such as phone number and office location), and a picture of the person. The picture represents the person's account as an icon in the desktop and, when you want information about a person, you double-click the person's photo (or other image) to see his electronic business card. All the information on the business card comes from the person's login account information. For information on creating a user login account, see "Creating a User Login Account."
In a situation where you want to freely share files with only some people who have accounts on a system, you can create a user group. The system lets you grant read and write permissions for a file or directory to three types of users: the file's owner, the members of a specific group of users, and all other users. Once you create a user group, you can set the permissions on all or some of your files so other members of your group can view or change them. For information on creating a user group, see "Managing User Groups."
In a large, networked environment, the network administrator maintains a list of user login account information, and makes sure that no two people have the same user login name. Before you create login accounts in such an environment, consult with the network administrator.
Whenever you change account information about a person who has a login account on more than one system on the network, the User Manager updates his account information on only that system; the information on other systems remains unchanged.
If your network uses the optional NIS network management software, the network administrator maintains a master database of login account information on a special system called the NIS master. Only the network administrator can change information on the NIS master.
When you create a login account for a person whose account information is in the NIS master database, the User Manager
fills in the personal account information (the information that appears
on the person's business card) with information from the NIS database.
A Privileged User can change this information for any account, and the
account's owner can change some of his own information. However, the changes
apply to the local system only; it does not change the information in the
NIS database.
marks it as a Network Access account. This means the person can log in to the system only when the network is working correctly and NIS is running.
If a person needs to log in to the system when it's not connected to the network (for example, if a person takes the system home for a period of time), you can change the account from a Network Access account to a Standalone Access account. Once it's a Standalone Access account, the person can log in any time, and you can change all information about the account.
Any Privileged User can use the User Manager to create a user login account for a person. If your system is connected to a network, contact your network administrator for an approved login name, user ID, and electronic mail address, and see "About User Login Accounts on the Network."
If the User Manager is not already running, start it by choosing "User Manager" from the System toolchest, or by clicking the words User Manager now.
To create a new user login account, follow these steps:
Click the Add button in the User Manager window.
Fill in the information requested by the Add a User Account window.
In the Full name field, type in the person's first name, middle
initial, and last name; you can leave blank spaces between names.
In the Login name field, type in a shorter version of the person's
name (for example, only the first name or initials). The login name can
consist of up to eight lower case characters, and cannot contain any spaces
or special characters. If your system is on a network, the network administrator
usually must approve the login name.
When the information is correct, click the OK button. The system searches the network for more information about this person.
If you decide not to add an account, click the Cancel button.
Create the account using the information that is shown in the User Account Information window, or customize account information.
To create an account using this information as is, click the OK button.
To fill in blank fields or change the information provided by the system,
see "Customizing
a User Login Account."
If you decide not to add an account, click the Cancel button.
An icon or picture labeled with the user login name and other account information appears in the User Manager window and, when you log out, the icon appears on the login screen. The person can now log in to the account to use the system.
If you do not want this account to appear on the login screen, see "Customizing the Login Window."
Any Privileged User can use the User Account Information window in the User Manager to customize a new or existing user login account. Click a topic for more information.
"Understanding
Login Account Information"
"Customizing
Business Card Information"
"Customizing
System Account Information," which includes designating a Primary
User and Privileged Users.
"Creating
a Template for New User Login Accounts"
"Converting
a Standalone Access Account to a Network Access Account"
"Converting a Network Access Account to a Standalone Access Account"
If you are running the User Manager as a User, but you know the login name and password of a Privileged User or the Administrator, you can change your privilege level from within the tool. When the User Account Information window is open, click the Change to Edit Mode button to enter a login name and/or password.
Every user login account has two types of information:
business card information appears in the left portion of the User Account
Information window; it includes a picture of the person and contact information
about the person. Usually this information is the same for every account
that belongs to a particular person.
system account information appears in the right hand portion of the window; it includes information about the type of account the person has on this system, whether the person is a Privileged User or the Primary User of the system, and which area of the system is reserved for the person (the home directory). Often this information is different on every system on which a person has an account.
A Privileged User can change all account information, and the person who owns the account can change all business card information except for login name. This changes the account information only on this system; accounts on other systems on the network do not show these changes.
Only the network administrator can change business card information for a Network Access account so that the information is the same for every Network Access account owned by the person.
Note: A Privileged User can use this tool to change a Standalone Access account into a Network Access account, and vice-versa. See "Converting a Standalone Access Account to a Network Access Account" and "Converting a Network Access Account to a Standalone Access Account."
The User Manager automatically creates a personal business card for each person who has a user login account. The business card appears whenever someone double-clicks a person's icon in the desktop or in the System Manager window; it also appears when you click the Preview Business Card button in the User Account Information window.
If the User Manager is not already running, start it by choosing "User Manager" from the System toolchest, or by clicking the words User Manager now.
A Privileged User or the User who owns the account can customize all business card information in the User Account Information window, but only the Administrator can add a picture to a login account; see "Adding a Picture to a Login Account." The User who owns the account can also create, change, or delete the account password; see "Creating, Changing, and Deleting Passwords."
To customize the information, follow these steps:
Change the full name or login name.
To avoid permissions problems, you should change the full name or login name only when you are converting a Standalone Access account to a Network Access account; see "Converting a Standalone Access Account to a Network Access Account."
To change the full name, highlight the current name in the Full name
field, press <Backspace>, then type a new name.
To change the login name, highlight the current name in the Login name field, press <Backspace>, then type a new name.
Note: You cannot change the login name of an account if you are currently logged in to that account.
Fill in the contact information.
The job title can have up to 25 characters, and can include spaces and
special characters.
The electronic mail address is assigned by your network administrator.
If this field has information, do not change it. If it is blank and the
system is on a network, contact your network administrator.
The primary system is the system that the person uses most frequently.
By default, the name of the system that you are using to customize the
account is filled in.
The remaining four fields can have up to 25 characters each, and can include spaces and special characters.
Preview the business card by clicking the Preview Business Card button.
To close the business card, double-click its window close box.
If you want to revise the information you entered so it looks better on the business card, do so now.
Customize the account using the information that is shown in the User Account Information window, or customize additional system account information.
To make the changes you entered, click the OK button.
To cancel the changes, click the Cancel button, then click OK
in the dialog that reminds you that you made changes.
To make changes to the system account information, see "Customizing System Account Information."
The picture appears in the upper left corner of the business card, and appears in the desktop, the User Manager, and the login screen to represent the account.
Only the Administrator can add a picture to an account by following these steps:
Ask the user to store a photo in a file on the system by either
using the Capture tool to take the picture (if the system has an IndyCam).
To use the tool, click the word Capture now,
and use its online help. (Clicking the word will not start the tool unless
the tool is already installed on your system.)
scan in an image on a system that has a scanner. Place the image in a Silicon Graphics Image file.
Give the file the same name as the user's login name. For example, if
the user's login name is mary and she gives you a file named mary.rgb,
rename the file mary.
Drag the file into the /usr/local/lib/faces directory.
Note: If /usr/local/lib/faces is not a local directory (i.e., if it is an NFS mounted directory), startup time will be noticeably slower for all tools that use the photo.
A Privileged User can change system account information only for the system on which you are running the User Manager; this system is pictured and labeled in the right hand portion of the User Account Information window.
If the User Manager is not already running, start it by choosing "User Manager" from the System toolchest, or by clicking the words User Manager now.
To change information about a person's account on only this system, follow these steps:
If you're changing an existing account, double-click the person's icon
in the User Manager to see the person's User Account Information window.
Answer the question Is this person the Primary User on this system?
by clicking the Yes or No box; for more information, see
"About
User Privileges and the Primary User."
Answer the question Is this person a Privileged User on this system?
by clicking the Yes or No box.
If this is a Network Access account and you want to convert it to a Standalone Access account, click the No box next to Is this a Network Access account? and see "Converting a Network Access Account to a Standalone Access Account."
If this is a Standalone Access account and you want to convert it to
a Network Access account, contact your network administrator, and see "Converting
a Standalone Access Account to a Network Access Account."
Create a password or change your current password. If you do not have a password, you see a button labeled Create One; if you already have a password, you see two buttons labeled Change It and Remove It.
To create a password, click the Create One button, then fill
in the password entry window that appears.
To change a password, click the Change It button, then fill in
the password entry window that appears.
To remove a password, click the Remove It button.
Note: The system does not change the password until you click the OK button in the User Account Information window.
See also "Creating,
Changing, and Deleting Passwords."
Specify a home directory for the person by entering a full pathname (starting with /) in the Home directory field.
It's best to give the home directory the same name as the user login name, for example, joe might have the home directory /usr/people/joe.
If you have a second disk, you may want to put the home directory there.
For example, if your second disk is named (has a mount point of) /disk2,
you would specify a home directory of /disk2/joe. See also "Storing
Home Directories on a Second Disk."
The primary group to which the user belongs on this system appears in the Primary group field.
If the user belongs to other groups on the system and would like a different group to be his primary group, type in the other group name.
See "Managing User
Groups" for information on checking which users belong to which
groups.
If the user wants to be added to a certain existing group and have the
group be the primary group, type in that group name. See also "Managing
User Groups."
If you are running the User Manager as the Administrator, you can create a new group and make it the user's primary group. Enter the group name, then click OK in the notifier that asks if you want to create a group.
The unique user ID of this person appears in the User ID field.
If this is a Network Access account, you cannot change the user ID.
The person must have the same login name and user ID for every account
to avoid problems with file access permissions. See also "Understanding
Permissions."
If this is a Standalone Access account, the system assigns a user ID that is unique from all other users on the system. If you change the user ID, you may create a conflict with another user, or you may create permissions problems where you can no longer access files that you previously created.
The IRIX shell is a special window into which the person can type IRIX commands. To choose a different shell from the one displayed on the menu button next to IRIX shell, position the cursor over the menu button, press and hold the mouse button, and select a different shell.
To use a shell not shown in the menu button, choose "Other"
from the menu button, then, in the text field that appears, type the full
pathname of the shell that you want to use.
Customize the account using the information that is shown in the User Account Information window, or cancel all changes.
To make the changes you entered, click the OK button.
To cancel the changes, click the Cancel button, then click OK in the dialog that reminds you that you made changes.
You can create, change, or delete an account's password using the User Account Information window. A User can change the password on his own account, and a Privileged User can change the password on any account except the root account. Only the Administrator can change the password on the root account.
To see an person's User Account Information window, choose "User Manager" from the System toolchest, then double-click the person's icon in the User Manager window. If the account has no password, you see a button labeled Create One; if the account already has a password, you see two buttons labeled Change It and Remove It.
To create a password, follow these steps:
Click the Create One button next to This account has no password.
In the Set Password window, click in the Enter new password field,
then type a password that contains at least 6 characters, one of which
is a numeral. Then press <Enter> or click the OK
button.
In the Reenter new password field that appears, enter the same
password again, then click the OK button.
A notifier informs you that the new password will not take effect until
you click OK in the User Account Information window; click the OK
button in this notifier.
Save the new password, or cancel your changes and leave the account with no password.
To save the new password, click OK in the User Account Information
window. The next time the owner logs into this account, he will be prompted
to enter the password.
To cancel the changes, click Cancel in the User Account Information window, then click OK in the dialog that reminds you that you made changes.
To change an existing password, follow these steps:
Click the ChangeIt button next to This account has a password.
In the Set Password window, click in the Enter current password
field, then type your current password. Then press <Enter>
or click the OK button.
In the Enter new password field that appears, enter the new password;
it must differ from the old one by at least three characters. Then press
<Enter> or click the OK button.
In the Reenter new password field that appears, enter the same
new password again, then click the OK button.
A notifier informs you that the new password will not take effect until
you click OK in the User Account Information window; click the OK
button in this notifier.
Save the new password, or cancel your changes and leave the old password on the account.
To save the new password, click OK in the User Account Information
window. The next time the owner logs into this account, he must enter the
new password.
To cancel the changes, click Cancel in the User Account Information window, then click OK in the dialog that reminds you that you made changes.
To delete an existing password, follow these steps:
Click the RemoveIt button next to This account has a password.
A notifier informs you that the new password will not be deleted until
you click OK in the User Account Information window; click the OK
button in this notifier.
Delete the password, or cancel your changes and leave the account with a password.
To delete the password, click OK in the User Account Information
window. The next time the owner logs into this account, he will not be
prompted to enter a password.
To cancel the changes, click Cancel in the User Account Information window, then click OK in the dialog that reminds you that you made changes.
When you create a new user login account, the User Account Information window automatically places default information in these fields:
electronic mail address contains the person's login name.
primary system name contains the name of the system on which
you're adding the account.
home directory is /usr/people/<loginname>.
primary group is user.
userID is a number that is different from all other user IDs on the
system (for a Standalone Access account) and is different from all other
users on the network (for a Network Access account).
IRIX shell is Csh.
Also, the system assumes you do not want to give the person administrative privileges, so No is selected next to Is this person a Privileged User on this system?
To change these defaults so that each time you add a new user the User Account Information window provides different default information, follow these steps:
If the User Manager is not already running, start it by choosing "User
Manager" from the System toolchest, or by clicking the words User
Manager now.
Open any account by double-clicking it.
Change the information to the new defaults; for example, to put all home directories on a second disk with a mount point of /disk2, enter /disk2/ (be sure to include the trailing /) in the Home directory field. (See also "Storing Home Directories on a Second Disk.")
Most information that appears in text fields can be saved as a template.
User ID, Primary User, Privileged User, and Network Access account information
cannot be saved as a template.
Click the Save as Template button. A message tells you it has
been saved.
Click the Cancel button; the window disappears, and no information
about the account is changed.
To make sure the settings are appropriate, add a fictitious account, then delete it. See "Creating a User Login Account."
A Privileged User must work together with the network administrator to convert a Standalone Access account to a Network Access account. The most typical situation in which you need to make this conversion is when you set up a user login account on a system before it is connected to the network or before you have installed and started running the optional NIS software.
Once the Standalone Access account is converted to a Network Access account, the person can log in to the account only when the system is connected to the network and NIS is running. If you ever need to remove the system from the network, you should first convert the account back to a Standalone Access account; see "Converting a Network Access Account to a Standalone Access Account."
A Privileged User can convert the account by following these steps:
Give the network administrator the person's full name and the login name that is on the Standalone Account so the network administrator can create a Network Access account on the NIS master system.
Note: If the login name you give to the network administrator
is being used by another person, the network administrator will provide
you with a different login name for your person.
When the network administrator tells you that the account is ready,
start the User Manager by choosing "User Manager" from the System
toolchest, or by clicking the words User
Manager now.
Open the person's account by double-clicking it.
Change relevant information in the person's User Account Information window.
If the network administrator had to use a different login name for this person's Network Access account, change the name in the Login name field to match.
Note: If the login name had to change, you must copy all files
and directories that the person owns from the person's old home directory
into the new one to avoid permissions problems.
In the right hand portion of the form, click the Yes box next to Is this a Network Access account?
Convert the account or cancel your changes.
To convert the account to the Network Access account shown in the User
Account Information window, click the OK button.
To cancel your changes and keep the account as a Standalone Access account, click the Cancel button, then click OK in the dialog that reminds you that you made changes.
The person can now log into the account as long as the system is connected to the network and NIS is running.
If you need to disconnect your system from the network and a person with a Network Access account still wants to be able to log in, a Privileged User can convert the person's account to a Standalone Access account with the User Manager.
If the User Manager is not already running, start it by choosing "User Manager" from the System toolchest, or by clicking the words User Manager now.
Double-click the person's icon in the User Manager window to open the
person's User Account Information window.
In the right hand portion of the form, click the box under No
next to Is this a Network Access account? The information in the
business card portion of the window becomes editable.
Convert the account or cancel your changes.
To convert the account to the Standalone Access account shown in the
User Account Information window, click the OK button.
To customize the business card information or system account information
shown for the Standalone Access account, see "Customizing
a User Login Account."
To cancel your changes and keep the account as a Network Access account, click the Cancel button, then click OK in the dialog that reminds you that you made changes.
The person can now log into the account, whether or not it is connected to the network.
When a Privileged User deletes a login account from your system, the person who owns that account can no longer log in to your system. If the person has accounts on other systems, they can still log in to those systems.
If the User Manager is not already running, start it by choosing "User Manager" from the System toolchest, or by clicking the words User Manager now.
To delete a login account, follow these steps:
Select the person's icon in the User Manager window.
Click the Delete button.
Specify whether you want to delete or retain the user's home directory.
To delete the person's home directory and all the files that it contains,
click the Yes box.
To retain the home directory, click the No box.
Delete the account or cancel your request.
To delete the account, click the OK button.
The person's icon no longer appears in the User Manager window or on
the login screen, and the person cannot log in to the system.
To cancel your request and retain the account and its home directory, click the Cancel button, then click OK in the dialog that reminds you that you made changes.
You can view a user's business card in three ways:
Choose "People" from the Search For rollover menu in the Find
toolchest, and search for specific people. When their icons appear in the
tool, double-click them to see the business cards.
To see the business cards for a system's Primary User and Administrator,
start the system's System Manager, and double-click the icons labeled Primary
User and Administrator.
Start the User Manager by choosing "User Manager" from the System toolchest; then double-click the person's icon and click Preview Business Card in the person's User Account Information window.
A Privileged User or the owner of the login account can change business card information using the User Manager; see "Customizing Business Card Information."
The Administrator is the person who uses the most privileged account, the root account, to perform administrative and troubleshooting tasks; there is one Administrator per system. Because the Administrator can change or remove any file on the system, it is very important to create a password for this account. For more information, see "About User Privileges and the Primary User."
To designate an Administrator and create a password for the root account, follow these steps:
Log out of the system, then log in to the root account.
Start the User Manager by choosing "User Manager" from the
System toolchest.
Open the root account's User Account Information window by double-clicking
it.
Enter the full name and phone number of the person who will be this system's Administrator, and have this person enter a password.
To create a password, click the Create One button, then fill
in the password entry window that appears.
To change a password, click the Change It button, then fill in
the password entry window that appears. The current Administrator will
have to do this if a password exists.
To remove a password, click the Remove It button.
Note: The system does not change the password until you click the OK button in the User Account Information window.
See also "Creating,
Changing, and
Deleting Passwords."
Click OK to make the changes take effect.
You can also change the name of the Administrator through the System Manager. See "Designating the Administrator."
A Privileged User can give one or more other people administrative privileges, making them Privileged Users as well. All Privileged Users have the same capabilities; see "About User Privileges and the Primary User."
If the User Manager is not already running, start it by choosing "User Manager" from the System toolchest, or by clicking the words User Manager now.
To change a User to a Privileged User, follow these steps:
Double-click the person's icon in the User Manager window to open the
person's User Account Information window.
In the right hand portion of the window, click the Yes box next
to Is this person a Privileged User on this system?
Click the OK button.
A Privileged User can name one person on the system to be the system's Primary User; this person's picture appears on the System Manager window. See also "About User Privileges and the Primary User."
If the User Manager is not already running, start it by choosing "User Manager" from the System toolchest, or by clicking the words User Manager now.
To make a person the Primary User, follow these steps:
Open the person's User Account Information window by double-clicking
the person's icon in the User Manager window.
In the right hand portion of the window, click the Yes box next
to Is this person the Primary User on this system?
Click the OK button.
Only the Administrator can create, change, and delete user groups. Once the group exists, group members can use the Permissions window to change permissions on their own files and directories to let other members of the group read or edit the files. See "Understanding Permissions" in IRIS Essentials for more information.
A person can belong to several groups, but only one group on this system is the person's primary group. To specify a person's primary group, see "Customizing System Account Information."
You can add a new group in two ways:
Run the User Manager as the Administrator and, in the User Account Information
window of a user who will be in the group, enter the new group name in
the Primary group field. See "Customizing
System Account Information."
Edit the IRIX file, /etc/group, as shown below.
Note: Do not change information for any of the special system groups that were on your system when it was new (groups with ID numbers between 0 and 100 and over 900). They are critical to system operation; changing them will make the system inoperable.
To edit /etc/group, follow these steps:
Log in as root through a shell window.
Choose "Unix Shell" from the Desktop toolchest.
Position your cursor within the new window and type:
login root
Then press <Enter>.
If a prompt for a password appears, type the password then press <Enter>. If a prompt appears but the root account has no password, just press <Enter>.
Edit the file.
Open the file with a text editor such as jot by typing:
jot /etc/group
Then press <Enter>. For detailed information on using the jot text editor, choose a topic from its Help menu.
After the last line in the file, you'll add a line that specifies the name and ID number of the new group. The entries that you see have this form:
<group name>:<password>:<group ID #>:<members>
The password and list of members is optional. See "Login Administration"
in the IRIX Advanced Site and Server Administration Guide for information
on how and why to add these.
Create a name for your group that consists of eight or less lowercase letters and does not match any of the group names that you see in this file. Then choose a group ID number between 101 and 899 that does not match any of the group IDs in this file. For example, to create a group named drafting with an ID number of 105, add this line:
drafting::105:
Save your changes and quit jot.
Log out of the root account by typing:
logout
Then press <Enter>. The shell window disappears.
You now have a new group that has no members. To assign users to this group, see "Adding Users to a Group."
See "Changing Permissions" in IRIS Essentials for information on changing file permissions so that members of a specific group can read or edit the files.
Only the Administrator can add users to or delete users from a group. When you delete a user from a group, you do not delete that person's login account. The person no longer belongs to the group, and cannot access files that other group members have marked as accessible by group members.
All new users whose login accounts you create with the User Manager belong to the group user whose group ID number is 20. To find out what groups are available on your system, look in the /etc/group file; to create a new group, see "Creating a User Group."
Note: Do not assign a user to any of the special system groups that were on your system when it was new (groups with ID numbers between 0 and 100 and over 900). They are critical to system operation; assigning a regular user to the groups severely compromises stable operation.
Usually a user can belong to only one group. For information on assigning users to multiple groups, see "Login Administration" in the IRIX Advanced Site and Server Administration Guide.
The Administrator can assign a user to a new group and make it the user's primary group in two ways:
Run the User Manager as the Administrator and, in the User Account Information
window of the user who you want to add to the group, enter a different
group name in the Primary group field. See "Customizing
System Account Information."
Edit /etc/passwd, the IRIX file that contains login account information, as shown below.
To assign a user to a new group by editing /etc/passwd, follow these steps:
Log in as root through a shell window.
Choose "Unix Shell" from the Desktop toolchest.
Position your cursor within the new window and type:
login root
Then press <Enter>.
If a prompt for a password appears, type the password then press <Enter>. If a prompt appears but the root account has no password, just press <Enter>.
Edit the file.
Open the /etc/passwd file with a text editor such as jot by typing:
jot /etc/passwd
Then press <Enter>. For detailed information on using the jot text editor, choose a topic from its Help menu.
To assign a user to a new group, find that user's account information and change the user's group ID number to match that of the new group. The entries that you see have this form:
<login name>:<password>:<user ID #>:<groupID #>:<other info>
Change the user's group ID number. For example, user joe's entry currently looks like this:
joe::1003:20::/usr/people/joe:/bin/csh
This shows that he belongs to group 20; you would like to switch him to group 105. Change his entry so it looks like this:
joe::1003:105::/usr/people/joe:/bin/csh
Assign other users to new groups.
Save your changes and quit jot.
Log out of the root account by typing:
logout
Then press <Enter>. The shell window disappears.
Ask all users whose group ID numbers you changed to log out, then log back in.
When they log in, new files and directories that they create will be labeled with the new group name; you can see this label when you view the Permissions window of a file or directory.
The users whose group ID numbers you changed now have read and execute permissions on all files created by members of the new group (unless a group member changes permissions on individual files). See "Changing Permissions" to give members of the same group write permissions (the ability to change each other's files), or to remove read or execute permissions.
When the Administrator deletes a group from your system, the group is no longer available for membership. This means people who used to belong to the group still have active user login accounts, but they are no longer members of a common group.
To delete a group, follow these steps:
Assign to a new group all users who belong to the group that you are
deleting. See "Adding
Users to a Group."
Log in as root through a shell window.
Choose "Unix Shell" from the Desktop toolchest.
Position your cursor within the new window and type:
login root
Then press <Enter>.
If a prompt for a password appears, type the password then press <Enter>. If a prompt appears but the root account has no password, just press <Enter>.
Edit the /etc/group file.
Open the file with a text editor such as jot by typing:
jot /etc/group
Then press <Enter>. For detailed information on using the
jot text editor, choose a topic from its Help menu.
Find the line that describes the group you want to delete. The entries that you see have this form:
<group name>:<password>:<group ID #>:<members>
Remove the line.
Save your changes and quit jot.
Log out of the root account by typing:
logout
Then press <Enter>. The shell window disappears.
Ask all users who previously belonged to the group to log out, then log back in.
When they log in, new files and directories that they create will be labeled with the name of the new group to which you assigned them; you see this label when you view the Permissions window of a file or directory. For more information, see "Understanding Permissions" in IRIS Essentials.
The group no longer exists. To create a new group, see "Creating a User Group."
|
|
Send feedback to Technical Publications.
Copyright © 1997, Silicon Graphics, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Trademark Information