--- /dev/null
+groupmanage - installation instructions
+
+'groupmanage' is /usr/local/bin/groupmanage - NOT setuid root
+-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root /usr/local/bin/groupmanage
+'groupmanage.conf' is /etc/groupmanage.conf - edit to taste
+-rw-rw-r-- 1 root root /etc/groupmanage.conf
+'services' is (typically) /etc/userv/services.d/groupmanage
+-rw-rw-r-- 1 root root /etc/userv/services.d/groupmanage
+
+Edit /etc/userv/system.default to add a line
+ include-lookup service /etc/userv/services.d
+if you don't have one already.
+
+groupmanage depends on /etc/environment setting up a sensible PATH.
+/etc/grouplist must exist. We suggest inserting the comment
+# Syntax:
+# group:description:manager:maint-users:home
+There must be no blank lines in /etc/grouplist.
+
+Groupmanage is Copyright
+(C)1995-9 Ian Jackson <ian@davenant.greenend.org.uk>
+(C)1998 David Damerell <damerell@chiark.greenend.org.uk>
+and is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License,
+version 2, or (at your option), any later version.
+
+$Id$
+++ /dev/null
-'groupmanage' is /usr/local/bin/groupmanage - NOT setuid root
--rwxr-xr-x 1 root root /usr/local/bin/groupmanage
-'groupmanage.conf' is /etc/groupmanage.conf - edit to taste
--rw-rw-r-- 1 root root /etc/groupmanage.conf
-'services' is (typically) /etc/userv/services.d/groupmanage
--rw-rw-r-- 1 root root /etc/userv/services.d/groupmanage
-Edit /etc/userv/system.default to add a line
-
-include-lookup service /etc/userv/services.d
-
-Depends on /etc/environment setting up a sensible PATH; /etc/grouplist
-existing (suggest inserting the comment
-# Syntax:
-# group:description:manager:maint-users:home
-) There must be no blank lines in /etc/grouplist.
-
-Error messages of the form
-userv: failure: read error in data: Interrupted system call
-appear to be normal (!)
-
-Groupmanage is copyright (C)1995-8 Ian Jackson
-<ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk>
-
-and is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License;
-however, since Ian does not yet consider it ready for general release,
-please be selective when sending him reports of bugs.
#!/usr/bin/perl
#
-# Reads /etc/grouplist, in form
-# group:description:owner:manager1,manager2,manager3:home-directory
-# (as many or few managers as you like)
-# Modifies /etc/grouplist by adding or removing managers &c,
-# and /etc/group by adding or removing members.
-
-# Copyright (C)1995-8 Ian Jackson <ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk>
-
+# Copyright (C)1995-9 Ian Jackson <ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk>
+#
# This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
# under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
# any later version.
-
+#
# It is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# $Id$
sub usage {
&unlock;
--manager-remove <username> <username> ...
--title <string>
--owner <username> [root only]
+groupmanage is Copyright. It is free software, released under the GNU
+GPL v2 or later. There is NO WARRANTY. See the GPL for details.
END
exit(1);
}
groupmanage(1) and user-administered groups
-------------------------------------------
-There is a program `groupmanage' installed on chiark, with which users
-can create their own groups and change their group membership.
+There is a program `groupmanage', with which users can create their
+own groups and change their group membership.
For a synopsis of its usage, type `groupmanage'.
Each group managed by groupmanage has an entry in /etc/grouplist as
well as in /etc/group. This contains the administrative information
-which controls who may do what to the group.
+which controls who may do what to the group, in the form:
+ group:description:owner:manager1,manager2,manager3:home-directory
+(as many or few managers as you like). groupmanage will modify this
+file as well as /etc/group
Each group has a single owner user. The owner and managers are
allowed to add and delete managers and members; only the owner may
groupmanage --add to do that, and then log in again to ensure that the
new membership affects your session.
-There are some restrictions on groups created by users without my
-intervention: the group name must have the form
-<username>-<groupname>, except that if <username> is more than 4
-characters only the first 4 need be given. All groups created by a
-user have that user's name in the title. Any one user may not create
-more than 5 groups for themselves.
+There are some restrictions on groups created by users without
+administrator intervention: in the default configuration the group
+name must have the form <username>-<groupname>, except that if
+<username> is more than 4 characters only the first 4 need be given.
+All groups created by a user have that user's name in the title. Any
+one user may not create more than 5 groups for themselves.
All group names must be less than 8 characters long, and a group once
-created can not easily be deleted (though it can be renamed with my
-assistance).
+created can not easily be deleted because revoking access to a uid or
+gid on unix is very hard. Groups can be renamed with assistance from
+the system administrator.
For more formal groups (for example, those corresponding to particular
organisations, or which interact with system software eg mail
-delivery) I will usually create a the group myself on request (and
-need not heed these restrictions), and will often also create a home
-directory for shared files.
+delivery) should probably be created by the sysadmin on request and
+need not heed these restrictions; it might also be useful to create a
+home directory for shared files.
When working with shared files, you should not remove (and should
reinstate, if necessary) the setgid bit on the shared directories, and
incantations to switch between working on shared files and your
personal files.
- -- iwj 19.08.1998
+$Id$
~ian / userv-utils.git / commitdiff