Manual: delgroup
DELUSER(8) System Manager's Manual DELUSER(8)
NAME
deluser, delgroup - remove a user or group from the system
SYNOPSIS
deluser [--backup] [--backup-suffix str] [--backup-to dir] [--conf file] [--debug] [--remove-all-files]
[--remove-home] [--quiet] [--verbose] [--stdoutmsglevel prio] [--stderrmsglevel prio] [--logmsglevel prio]
user
deluser [--system] [--backup] [--backup-suffix str] [--backup-to dir] [--conf file] [--debug] [--remove-all-files]
[--remove-home] [--quiet] [--verbose] [--stdoutmsglevel prio] [--stderrmsglevel prio] [--logmsglevel prio]
user
deluser --group [--conf file] [--debug] [--only-if-empty] [--quiet] [--verbose] [--stdoutmsglevel prio]
[--stderrmsglevel prio] [--logmsglevel prio] group
delgroup [--system] [--conf file] [--debug] [--only-if-empty] [--quiet] [--verbose] [--stdoutmsglevel prio]
[--stderrmsglevel prio] [--logmsglevel prio] group
deluser [--conf file] [--debug] [--quiet] [--verbose] [--stdoutmsglevel prio] [--stderrmsglevel prio]
[--logmsglevel prio] user group
deluser --help
deluser --version
DESCRIPTION
deluser and delgroup remove users and groups from the system according to command line options and configuration in‐
formation in /etc/deluser.conf and /etc/adduser.conf.
They are more Debian specific front ends to the userdel and groupdel programs, which are more distribution agnostic.
deluser and delgroup can remove the home directory as option or even all files on the system owned by the user to be
removed, run a custom script, and have other features.
For a full list and explanations of all options, see the OPTIONS section.
deluser and delgroup can be run in one of three modes:
Remove a user
If called with one non-option argument and without the --group option, deluser will remove a non-system user.
By default, deluser will remove the user without removing the home directory, the mail spool or any other files on
the system owned by the user. Removing the home directory and mail spool can be achieved using the --remove-home op‐
tion.
The --remove-all-files option removes all files on the system owned by the user. Note that if you activate both op‐
tions --remove-home will have no additional effect because all files including the home directory and mail spool are
already covered by the --remove-all-files option.
If you want to backup all files before deleting them you can activate the --backup option which will create a file
username.tar(.gz|.bz2) in the directory specified by the --backup-to option.
By default, the backup archive is compressed with gzip(1). To change this, the --backup-suffix option can be set to
any suffix supported by tar --auto-compress.
deluser will refuse to remove the root account.
If the --system option is given on the command line, the delete operation is actually executed only if the user is a
system user. This avoids accidentally deleting non-system users. Additionally, if the user does not exist, no error
value is returned. Debian package maintainer scripts may use this flag to remove system users or groups while ignor‐
ing the case where the removal already occurred.
Remove a group
If deluser is called with the --group option, or delgroup is called, a group will be removed. The primary group of
an existing user cannot be removed. If the option --only-if-empty is given, the group won't be removed if it has any
members left.
The --system option adds the same functionality as for users, respectively.
Remove a user from a specific group
If called with two non-option arguments, deluser will remove a user from a specific group.
OPTIONS
Different modes of deluser allow different options. If no valid modes are listed for a option, it is accepted in all
modes.
Short versions for certain options may exist for historical reasons. They are going to stay supported, but are re‐
moved from the documentation. Users are advised to migrate to the long version of options.
--backup
Backup all files contained in the userhome and the mailspool file to a file named username.tar.bz2 or user‐
name.tar.gz. Valid modes: deluser, deluser --system.
--backup-suffix str
Select compression algorithm for a home directory backup. Can be set to any suffix recognized by tar
--auto-compress. Defaults to .gz. Valid modes: deluser, deluser --system.
--backup-to dir
Place the backup files not in the current directory but in dir. This implicitly sets --backup also. Defaults
to the current working directory. Valid modes: deluser, deluser --system.
--conf file
Use file instead of the default files /etc/deluser.conf and /etc/adduser.conf. Multiple --conf options may be
given.
--debug
Synonymous to --stdoutmsglevel=debug. Deprecated.
--group
Remove a group. This is the default action if the program is invoked as delgroup. Valid mode: deluser.
--help Display brief instructions.
--only-if-empty
Only remove if no members are left. Valid modes: deluser --group, delgroup.
--quiet
Synonymous to --stdoutmsglevel=warn. Deprecated.
--remove-all-files
Remove all files from the system owned by this user. Note: --remove-home does not have an effect any more.
If --backup is specified, the files are deleted after having performed the backup. Valid modes: deluser,
deluser --system.
--remove-home
Remove the home directory of the user and its mailspool. If --backup is specified, the files are deleted af‐
ter having performed the backup. Valid modes: deluser, deluser --system.
--system
Only delete if user/group is a system user/group. If the user does not exist, no error value is returned.
Valid modes: deluser, deluser --system.
--verbose
Synonymous to --stdoutmsglevel=info. Deprecated.
--stdoutmsglevel prio
--stderrmsglevel prio
--logmsglevel prio
Minimum priority for messages logged to syslog/journal and the console, respectively. Values are trace, de‐
bug, info, warn, err, and fatal. Messages with the priority set here or higher get printed to the respective
medium. Messages printed to stderr are not repeated on stdout. That allows the local admin to control ad‐
duser's chattiness on the console and in the log independently, keeping probably confusing information to it‐
self while still leaving helpful information in the log.
--version
Display version and copyright information.
LOGGING
deluser uses extensive and configurable logging to tailor its verbosity to the needs and wishes of the system admin‐
istrator.
This works similar to adduser. See adduser(8) for all the details.
EXIT VALUES
The exit values documented in adduser(8) also apply for deluser.
SECURITY
deluser needs root privileges and offers, via the --conf command line option to use different configuration files.
Do not use sudo(8) or similar tools to give partial privileges to deluser with restricted command line parameters.
This is easy to circumvent and might allow users to obtain privileges they are not supposed to have. If you want
this, consider writing your own wrapper script and giving privileges to execute that script.
FILES
/etc/deluser.conf Default configuration file for deluser(8) and delgroup(8)
/usr/local/sbin/deluser.local
Optional custom add-ons, see deluser.local(8)
SEE ALSO
adduser(8), deluser.conf(5), deluser.local.conf(8), groupdel(8), userdel(8)
Debian GNU/Linux DELUSER(8)