deluser
remove a user or group from the system
see also :
adduser - userdel - groupdel
Synopsis
deluser
[options] [--force] [--remove-home]
[--remove-all-files] [--backup]
[--backup-to DIR] user
deluser
--group [options] group
delgroup [options] [--only-if-empty]
group
deluser
[options] user group
COMMON
OPTIONS
[--quiet] [--system]
[--help] [--version]
[--conf FILE]
add an example, a script, a trick and tips
examples
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. deluser and delgroup can
be run in one of three modes:
Remove a
normal user
If called with one non-option argument and without the
--group option, deluser will
remove a normal 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 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 (defaulting to the
current working directory). Both the remove and backup
options can also be activated for default in the
configuration file /etc/deluser.conf. See
deluser.conf(5) for details.
If you want to
remove the root account (uid 0), then use the
--force parameter; this may prevent to
remove the root user by accident.
If the file
/usr/local/sbin/deluser.local exists, it will be
executed after the user account has been removed in order to
do any local cleanup. The arguments passed to
deluser.local are:
username uid gid home-directory
Remove a
group
If deluser is called with the
--group option, or delgroup is
called, a group will be removed.
Warning: 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.
Remove a
user from a specific group
If called with two non-option arguments, deluser will
remove a user from a specific group.
options
--conf
FILE
Use FILE instead of the default
files /etc/deluser.conf and
/etc/adduser.conf
--group
Remove a group. This is the
default action if the program is invoked as
delgroup.
--help
Display brief instructions.
--quiet
Suppress progress messages.
--system
Only delete if user/group is a
system user/group. This avoids accidentally deleting
non-system users/groups. Additionally, if the user does not
exist, no error value is returned. This option is mainly for
use in Debian package maintainer scripts.
--backup
Backup all files contained in
the userhome and the mailspool-file to a file named
/$user.tar.bz2 or /$user.tar.gz.
--backup-to
Place the backup files not in /
but in the directory specified by this parameter. This
implicitly sets --backup also.
--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.
--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.
--version
Display version and copyright
information.
copyright
Copyright (C) 2000 Roland Bauerschmidt. Modifications (C) 2004
Marc Haber and Joerg Hoh. This manpage and the deluser program
are based on adduser which is:
Copyright (C) 1997, 1998, 1999 Guy Maor.
Copyright (C) 1995 Ted Hajek, with a great deal borrowed from the
original Debian adduser
Copyright (C) 1994 Ian Murdock. deluser is free software;
see the GNU General Public Licence version 2 or later for copying
conditions. There is no warranty.
files
/etc/deluser.conf
return value
0
The action was successfully executed.
1
The user to delete was not a system account. No action was
performed.
2
There is no such user. No action was performed.
3
There is no such group. No action was performed.
4
Internal error. No action was performed.
5
The group to delete is not empty. No action was performed.
6
The user does not belong to the specified group. No action was
performed.
7
You cannot remove a user from its primary group. No action was
performed.
8
The required perl-package ’perl modules’ is not installed. This
package is required to perform the requested actions. No action
was performed.
9
For removing the root account the parameter "--force" is
required. No action was performed.
see also
deluser.conf,
adduser , userdel , groupdel