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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.cs.su.oz.au!metro!metro!asstdc.scgt.oz.au!nsw.news.telstra.net!act.news.telstra.net!imci3!imci2!news.internetMCI.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.mathworks.com!hunter.premier.net!bofh.dot!netaxs.com!bofh.dot!usenet From: Jed Clear <clear@netaxs.com> Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: Removing Users from FreeBSD 2.0 Date: Wed, 22 May 1996 19:53:39 -0400 Organization: Net Access - Philadelphia's Original ISP Lines: 19 Message-ID: <31A3A903.3404@netaxs.com> References: <4nvobf$dvu@news.starnet.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: wyndmoor1-55.slip.netaxs.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 2.01Gold (Win95; I) David Schnardthorst wrote: > > What is the easiest way to remove users under FreeBSD 2.0. Can I just take > them out of the passwd file, or is there another way? You can change the password field to * or delete the line in /etc/passwd. Putting in * locks them out and has a few advantages. 1) searching out files owned by defunct user. see find(1) 2) once you get rid of files, then you can recycle the UID using the *'d entry as a book mark. Since Unix keeps track of file owner ship by UID, not user name, just deleting the line in /etc/passwd will eventually give the next user ownership of the old files. I think find has an option to find "unowned" files if you've already deleted a few users. -Jed