NAME

       dh_sysuser - manage system users required for package operation

SYNOPSIS

       dh_sysuser [debhelper options] [username options] ...

DESCRIPTION

       dh_sysuser is a debhelper addon providing a simple and uniform way to create and remove system users
       required for package operation (for example, to run a service with dropped privileges).

       The user creation itself is delegated to adduser(8) utility, the behavior of which is controlled by
       /etc/adduser.conf configuration file. In the default installation:

       •   The  primary  group of the new user is created with the same name as the user. The new users will not
           be a member of any other group except the primary one.

       •   New users have the /etc/shadow password field set to '!', making it impossible to log in.

       •   New users have the shell set to /usr/sbin/nologin. It is still possible to get  a  new  user's  shell
           with su -s.

       •   If  the  home  directory  is  created  (see  below),  its  permissions  are adjusted according to the
           SYS_DIR_MODE variable in /etc/adduser.conf. By default, this results in the mode 0755  for  the  home
           directory.  Files from /etc/skel are NOT copied.

           WARNING:  The  data  stored  in  new  user's  home  directory are world-readable.  If you (as package
           maintainer) need full control over home directory permissions, please file a bug.

       dh_sysuser reads its arguments from command line and the debian/package.sysuser file, if one  exists,  in
       pairs,  the  first  argument  being  a  username and the second one is options. The configuration file or
       command-line arguments must be used to create users: just calling dh_sysuser without any  arguments  does
       not have any effect.

       Here are the options that can be specified after the username:

       home
           This  option requests the creation of a home directory in /var/lib/username. You should use this form
           over the explicit one described below for uniformity.

       home=/path/to/home/directory
           This option requests the creation of a home directory at the specified path.

       defaults
           If you do not need any other options, specify this one.

   CRUFT OF SYSTEM USERS
       Creating a system user (or a user in general) is easy, but safely removing one is hard. Former version of
       this package used to remove users on purge when home was set to /nonexistent or was empty; however a user
       may be allowed to write files outside his home, and  since  UIDs  are  reusable,  this  may  represent  a
       security risk.  With the current version of this package users are never removed automatically.

EXAMPLES

       In  debian/package.sysuser,  this creates a user foo with defaults settings, with a home directory at the
       default location for bar, and a home directory at a custom location for baz:

           foo defaults
           bar home
           baz home=/opt/baz

SEE ALSO

       adduser(8)

perl v5.38.2                                       2024-06-27                                      DH_SYSUSER(1)