ipif: "include" looks for the file in the directory where "include" appears
[userv-utils] / groupmanage / groupmanage.text
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1groupmanage(1) and user-administered groups
2-------------------------------------------
3
4There is a program `groupmanage', with which users can create their
5own groups and change their group membership.
6
7For a synopsis of its usage, type `groupmanage'.
8
9Each group managed by groupmanage has an entry in /etc/grouplist as
10well as in /etc/group. This contains the administrative information
11which controls who may do what to the group, in the form:
12 group:description:owner:manager1,manager2,manager3:home-directory
13(as many or few managers as you like). groupmanage will modify this
14file as well as /etc/group
15
16Each group has a single owner user. The owner and managers are
17allowed to add and delete managers and members; only the owner may
18change the group title. Note that being a manager doesn't
19automatically make you a member of a group - you must use
20groupmanage --add to do that, and then log in again to ensure that the
21new membership affects your session.
22
23There are some restrictions on groups created by users without
24administrator intervention: in the default configuration the group
25name must have the form <username>-<groupname>, except that if
26<username> is more than 4 characters only the first 4 need be given.
27All groups created by a user have that user's name in the title. Any
28one user may not create more than 5 groups for themselves.
29
30All group names must be less than 8 characters long, and a group once
31created can not easily be deleted because revoking access to a uid or
32gid on unix is very hard. Groups can be renamed with assistance from
33the system administrator.
34
35For more formal groups (for example, those corresponding to particular
36organisations, or which interact with system software eg mail
37delivery) should probably be created by the sysadmin on request and
38need not heed these restrictions; it might also be useful to create a
39home directory for shared files.
40
41When working with shared files, you should not remove (and should
42reinstate, if necessary) the setgid bit on the shared directories, and
43leave your umask set to allow group write (the default is 002).
44You'll then find that you're able to work in group filespace areas
45without having to ask other users to chmod files, or having to type
46incantations to switch between working on shared files and your
47personal files.
48
49
50userv-utils are
51Copyright 1996-2013 Ian Jackson <ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk>
52Copyright 1998 David Damerell <damerell@chiark.greenend.org.uk>
53Copyright 1999,2003
54 Chancellor Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge
55Copyright 2010 Tony Finch <fanf@dotat.at>
56
57All the utilities here are free software; you can redistribute it and/or
58modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
59the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your
60option) any later version.
61
62This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
63WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
64MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
65General Public License for more details.
66
67You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
68along with userv-utils; if not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.