DELUSER(8) System Manager's Manual DELUSER(8)
NAME
deluser, delgroup - remove a user or group from the system
SYNOPSIS
deluser [--backup] [--backup-suffix str] [--backup-to dir]
[--conf file] [--debug] [--remove-all-files] [--remove-home]
[--quiet] [--verbose] user
deluser [--system] [--backup] [--backup-suffix str] [--backup-to dir]
[--conf file] [--debug] [--remove-all-files] [--remove-home]
[--quiet] [--verbose] user
deluser --group [--conf file] [--debug] [--only-if-empty] [--quiet]
[--verbose] group
delgroup [--system] [--conf file] [--debug] [--only-if-empty] [--quiet]
[--verbose] group
deluser [--conf file] [--debug] [--quiet] [--verbose] user group
deluser --help
deluser --version
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.
For a full list and explanations of all options, see the OPTIONS sec-
tion.
deluser and delgroup can be run in one of three modes:
Remove a user
If called with one non-option argument and without the --group option,
deluser will remove a non-system user.
By default, deluser will remove the user without removing the home di-
rectory, 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 additional effect because all files including the home direc-
tory and mail spool are already covered by the --remove-all-files op-
tion.
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.
By default, the backup archive is compressed with gzip(1). To change
this, the --backup-suffix option can be set to any suffix supported by
tar --auto-compress (e.g. .gz, .bz2, .xz).
deluser will refuse to remove the root account.
If the --system option is given on the command line, the delete opera-
tion is actually executed only if the user is a system user. This
avoids accidentally deleting non-system users. Additionally, if the
user does not exist, no error value is returned. Debian package main-
tainer scripts may use this flag to remove system users or groups while
ignoring the case where the removal already occurred.
Remove a group
If deluser is called with the --group option, or delgroup is called, a
group will be removed. 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.
The --system option adds the same functionality as for users, respec-
tively.
Remove a user from a specific group
If called with two non-option arguments, deluser will remove a user
from a specific group.
OPTIONS
Different modes of deluser allow different options. If no valid modes
are listed for a option, it is accepted in all modes.
Short versions for certain options may exist for historical reasons.
They are going to stay supported, but are removed from the documenta-
tion. Users are advised to migrate to the long version of options.
--backup
Backup all files contained in the userhome and the mailspool
file to a file named username.tar.bz2 or username.tar.gz. Valid
Modes: deluser, deluser --system,
--backup-suffix str
Select compression algorithm for a home directory backup. Can
be set to any suffix recognized by tar --auto-compress. De-
faults to .gz. Valid Modes: deluser, deluser --system,
--backup-to dir
Place the backup files not in the current directory but in dir.
This implicitly sets --backup also. (defaulting to the current
working directory). Valid Modes: deluser, deluser --system,
--conf file
Use file instead of the default files /etc/deluser.conf and
/etc/adduser.conf. Multiple --conf options may be given.
--debug
Activate debugging code.
--group
Remove a group. This is the default action if the program is
invoked as delgroup. Valid Mode: deluser.
--help Display brief instructions.
--only-if-empty
Only remove if no members are left. Valid Modes: deluser
--group, delgroup,
--quiet
Suppress informational messages, only show warnings and errors.
--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. Valid Modes: deluser, deluser --system,
--remove-home
Remove the home directory of the user and its mailspool. If
--backup is specified, the files are deleted after having per-
formed the backup. Valid Modes: deluser, deluser --system,
--system
Only delete if user/group is a system user/group. If the user
does not exist, no error value is returned. Valid Modes:
deluser, deluser --system,
--verbose
Be more verbose.
--version
Display version and copyright information.
RETURN VALUE
0 Success: The action was successfully executed.
1 The user to delete was not a system account. No action was per-
formed.
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 suggested package 'perl' is not installed. This package is
required to perform the requested actions. No action was per-
formed.
9 The root account cannot be deleted. No action was performed.
SECURITY
deluser needs root privileges and offers, via the --conf command line
option to use different configuration files. Do not use sudo(8) or
similar tools to give partial privileges to deluser with restricted
command line parameters. This is easy to circumvent and might allow
users to create arbitrary accounts. If you want this, consider writing
your own wrapper script and giving privileges to execute that script.
FILES
/etc/deluser.conf Default configuration file for deluser(8) and del-
group(8)
/usr/local/sbin/deluser.local
Optional custom add-ons, see deluser.local(8)
SEE ALSO
adduser(8), deluser.conf(5), deluser.local.conf(8), groupdel(8),
userdel(8)
Debian GNU/Linux DELUSER(8)
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