# groupmems

## NAME



           groupmems - administer members of a user's primary group
    


## SYNOPSIS



    
           **groupmems** -a _user_name_ | -d _user_name_ | [-g _group_name_] | -l | -p
    


## DESCRIPTION



           The **groupmems** command allows a user to administer their own group
           membership list without the requirement of superuser privileges.
           The **groupmems** utility is for systems that configure its users to
           be in their own name sake primary group (i.e., guest / guest).
    
           Only the superuser, as administrator, can use **groupmems** to alter
           the memberships of other groups.
    


## OPTIONS



           The options which apply to the **groupmems** command are:
    
           **-a** , **--add** _user_name_
               Add a user to the group membership list.
    
               If the /etc/gshadow file exist, and the group has no entry in
               the /etc/gshadow file, a new entry will be created.
    
           **-d** , **--delete** _user_name_
               Delete a user from the group membership list.
    
               If the /etc/gshadow file exist, the user will be removed from
               the list of members and administrators of the group.
    
               If the /etc/gshadow file exist, and the group has no entry in
               the /etc/gshadow file, a new entry will be created.
    
           **-g** , **--group** _group_name_
               The superuser can specify which group membership list to
               modify.
    
           **-h** , **--help**
               Display help message and exit.
    
           **-l** , **--list**
               List the group membership list.
    
           **-p** , **--purge**
               Purge all users from the group membership list.
    
               If the /etc/gshadow file exist, and the group has no entry in
               the /etc/gshadow file, a new entry will be created.
    
           **-R** , **--root** _CHROOT_DIR_
               Apply changes in the _CHROOT_DIR_ directory and use the
               configuration files from the _CHROOT_DIR_ directory. Only
               absolute paths are supported.
    


## SETUP



           The **groupmems** executable should be in mode 2710 as user _root_ and
           in group _groups_. The system administrator can add users to group
           _groups_ to allow or disallow them using the **groupmems** utility to
           manage their own group membership list.
    
                    $ groupadd -r groups
                    $ chmod 2710 groupmems
                    $ chown root:groups groupmems
                    $ groupmems -g groups -a gk4
    


## CONFIGURATION



           The following configuration variables in /etc/login.defs change
           the behavior of this tool:
    
           **MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP**(number)
               Maximum members per group entry. When the maximum is reached,
               a new group entry (line) is started in /etc/group (with the
               same name, same password, and same GID).
    
               The default value is 0, meaning that there are no limits in
               the number of members in a group.
    
               This feature (split group) permits to limit the length of
               lines in the group file. This is useful to make sure that
               lines for NIS groups are not larger than 1024 characters.
    
               If you need to enforce such limit, you can use 25.
    
               Note: split groups may not be supported by all tools (even in
               the Shadow toolsuite). You should not use this variable unless
               you really need it.
    


## FILES



           /etc/group
               Group account information.
    
           /etc/gshadow
               secure group account information
    


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