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group(4)			 File Formats			      group(4)

NAME
       group - group file

DESCRIPTION
       The  group  file is a local source of group information. The group file
       can be used in conjunction with other group sources, including the  NIS
       maps  group.byname  and	group.bygid,  the  NIS+	 table group, or group
       information stored on an LDAP server.  Programs	use  the  getgrnam(3C)
       routines to access this information.

       The  group  file contains a one-line entry for each group recognized by
       the system, of the form:

       groupname:password: gid:user-list

       where

       groupname    The name of the group. A string consisting of  lower  case
		    alphabetic	characters  and	 numeric characters. Neither a
		    colon (:) nor a NEWLINE can be part of  a  groupname.  The
		    string  can	 not exceed, MAXGLEN-1, which is usually eight
		    characters.

       gid	    The group's unique numerical ID (GID) within the system.

       user-list    A comma-separated list of users allowed in the group.

       The maximum value of the gid field is 2147483647. To maximize  interop‐
       erability  and  compatibility, administrators are recommended to assign
       groups using the range of GIDs below 60000 where possible.

       A password can be demanded by newgrp(1) if the group password field  is
       not  empty.  The	 only  way  to create a password for a group is to use
       passwd(1),  then	 cut  and  paste  the  password	 from  /etc/shadow  to
       /etc/group. Group passwords are antiquated and not often used.

       During  user identification and authentication, the supplementary group
       access list is initialized sequentially from information in this	 file.
       If  a  user  is	in  more  groups  than	the  system is configured for,
       {NGROUPS_MAX}, a warning is given and subsequent	 group	specifications
       is ignored.

       Malformed  entries cause routines that read this file to halt, in which
       case group assignments specified further along are never made. To  pre‐
       vent  this  from happening, use grpck(1B) to check the /etc/group data‐
       base from time to time.

       Previous releases used a group entry beginning with a `+'  (plus	 sign)
       or  `−'	(minus	sign) to selectively incorporate entries from a naming
       service source (for example, an NIS map or data from  an	 LDAP  server)
       for   group.  If	 still	required,  this	 is  supported	by  specifying
       group:compat in nsswitch.conf(4). The compat source  may	 not  be  sup‐
       ported  in future releases. Possible sources are files followed by ldap
       or nisplus. This has the effect of incorporating	 information  from  an
       LDAP  server  or	 the entire contents of the NIS+ group table after the
       group file.

EXAMPLES
       Example 1 Example group File.

       The following is an example of a group file:

	 root::0:root
	 stooges:q.mJzTnu8icF.:10:larry,moe,curly

       and the sample group entry from nsswitch.conf:

	 group: files ldap

       With these entries, the group stooges will have members larry, moe, and
       curly,  and all groups listed on the LDAP server are effectively incor‐
       porated after the entry for stooges.

       If the group file was:

	 root::0:root
	 stooges:q.mJzTnu8icF.:10:larry,moe,curly
	 +:

       and the group entry from nsswitch.conf:

	 group: compat

       all the groups listed in the  NIS  group.bygid  and  group.byname  maps
       would be effectively incorporated after the entry for stooges.

SEE ALSO
       groups(1),  grpck(1B),  newgrp(1),  groupadd(1M),  getgrnam(3C),	 init‐
       groups(3C), nsswitch.conf(4), unistd.h(3HEAD)

       System Administration Guide: Basic Administration

SunOS 5.10			  21 Apr 2010			      group(4)
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