Linux › Section G · System configuration › Topic G.3
User management files
A Linux account is nothing more than a few lines in a few text files. Once you can read those lines field by field and know which commands edit them safely, creating, locking and ageing accounts becomes routine rather than mysterious.
In this topic
- Accounts live in plain text files
- The seven fields of /etc/passwd
- Groups and /etc/group
- The nine fields of /etc/shadow
- Worked example: decoding a shadow line
- Creating and changing accounts
- The skeleton directory
- Password ageing with chage
- Worked example: a contractor with an end date
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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