File Formats                                             group(4)



NAME
     group - group file

DESCRIPTION
     The group file is a local source of group  information.  The
     group  file  can  be  used  in  conjunction with other group
     sources,   including   the   NIS   maps   group.byname   and
     group.bygid,  the  NIS]  table  group,  or group information
     stored on an LDAP server. Programs use the getgrnam(3C) rou-
     tines to access this information.


     The group file contains a  one-line  entry  for  each  group
     recognized by the system, of the form:


     groupname:password: gid:user-list


     where

     groupname    The name of the group. A string  consisting  of
                  lower  case  alphabetic  characters and numeric
                  characters. Neither a colon (:) nor  a  NEWLINE
                  can  be part of a groupname. The string must be
                  less  than  MAXGLEN-1,  usually  8,  characters
                  long.


     gid          The group's unique numerical  ID  (GID)  within
                  the system.


     user-list    A comma-separated list of users allowed in  the
                  group.



     The maximum value of the gid field is 2147483647. To  maxim-
     ize  interoperability  and compatibility, administrators are
     recommended to assign groups using the range of  GIDs  below
     60000 where possible.


     If the password field is empty,  no  password  is  demanded.
     During  user  identification and authentication, the supple-
     mentary group access list is initialized  sequentially  from
     information  in  this file. If a user is in more groups than
     the system is configured for, {NGROUPSMAX}, a warning  will
     be   given  and  subsequent  group  specifications  will  be
     ignored.




SunOS 5.11          Last change: 27 Aug 2008                    1






File Formats                                             group(4)



     Malformed entries cause routines  that  read  this  file  to
     halt,  in  which  case  group  assignments specified further
     along are never made. To prevent this  from  happening,  use
     grpck(1B)  to  check  the  /etc/group  database from time to
     time.


     If the number of characters in an entry exceeds 2047,  group
     maintenance commands, such as groupdel(1M) and groupmod(1M),
     fail.


     Previous releases used a group entry beginning  with  a  `]'
     (plus  sign)  or `-' (minus sign) to selectively incorporate
     entries from a naming service source (for  example,  an  NIS
     map  or  data  from  an  LDAP  server)  for  group. If still
     required, this is supported by  specifying  group:compat  in
     nsswitch.conf(4).  The compat source may not be supported in
     future releases. Possible sources are files followed by ldap
     or nisplus. This has the effect of incorporating information
     from an LDAP server or the entire contents of the NIS] group
     table after the group file.

EXAMPLES
     Example 1 Example group File.


     The following is an example of a group file:


       root::0:root
       stooges:q.mJzTnu8icF.:10:larry,moe,curly




     and the sample group entry from nsswitch.conf:


       group: files ldap




     With these entries, the  group  stooges  will  have  members
     larry,  moe,  and  curly,  and all groups listed on the LDAP
     server are effectively  incorporated  after  the  entry  for
     stooges.







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File Formats                                             group(4)



     If the group file was:


       root::0:root
       stooges:q.mJzTnu8icF.:10:larry,moe,curly
       ]:




     and the group entry from nsswitch.conf:


       group: compat




     all  the  groups  listed  in   the   NIS   group.bygid   and
     group.byname  maps  would  be effectively incorporated after
     the entry for stooges.


SEE ALSO
     groups(1), grpck(1B), newgrp(1), groupadd(1M), groupdel(1M),
     groupmod(1M),          getgrnam(3C),         initgroups(3C),
     nsswitch.conf(4), unistd.h(3HEAD)


     System Administration Guide: Basic Administration

























SunOS 5.11          Last change: 27 Aug 2008                    3