Manual: groupadd

GROUPADD(8)					 System Management Commands					 GROUPADD(8)

NAME
       groupadd - create a new group

SYNOPSIS

       groupadd [OPTIONS] NEWGROUP

DESCRIPTION
       The groupadd command creates a new group account using the values specified on the command line plus the default
       values from the system. The new group will be entered into the system files as needed.

       Groupnames may contain only lower and upper case letters, digits, underscores, or dashes. They can end with a dollar
       sign. Dashes are not allowed at the beginning of the groupname. Fully numeric groupnames and groupnames . or .. are
       also disallowed.

       On Ubuntu, the same constraints as Debian are in place, with the additional constraint that the groupname cannot be
       fully numeric, including octal and hexadecimal syntax.

       Groupnames may only be up to 32 characters long.

OPTIONS
       The options which apply to the groupadd command are:

       -f, --force
	   This option causes the command to simply exit with success status if the specified group already exists. When
	   used with -g, and the specified GID already exists, another (unique) GID is chosen (i.e.  -g is turned off).

       -g, --gid GID
	   The numerical value of the group's ID.  GID must be unique, unless the -o option is used. The value must be
	   non-negative. The default is to use the smallest ID value greater than or equal to GID_MIN and greater than every
	   other group.

	   See also the -r option and the GID_MAX description.

       -h, --help
	   Display help message and exit.

       -K, --key KEY=VALUE
	   Overrides /etc/login.defs defaults (GID_MIN, GID_MAX and others). Multiple -K options can be specified.

	   Example: -K GID_MIN=100  -K GID_MAX=499

	   Note: -K GID_MIN=10,GID_MAX=499 doesn't work yet.

       -o, --non-unique
	   permits the creation of a group with an already used numerical ID. As a result, for this GID, the mapping towards
	   group NEWGROUP may not be unique.

       -p, --password PASSWORD
	   defines an initial password for the group account. PASSWORD is expected to be encrypted, as returned by crypt
	   (3).

	   Without this option, the group account will be locked and with no password defined, i.e. a single exclamation
	   mark in the respective field of ths system account file /etc/group or /etc/gshadow.

	   Note: This option is not recommended because the password (or encrypted password) will be visible by users
	   listing the processes.

	   You should make sure the password respects the system's password policy.

       -r, --system
	   Create a system group.

	   The numeric identifiers of new system groups are chosen in the SYS_GID_MIN-SYS_GID_MAX range, defined in
	   login.defs, instead of GID_MIN-GID_MAX.

       -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.

       -P, --prefix PREFIX_DIR
	   Apply changes to configuration files under the root filesystem found under the directory PREFIX_DIR. This option
	   does not chroot and is intended for preparing a cross-compilation target. Some limitations: NIS and LDAP
	   users/groups are not verified. PAM authentication is using the host files. No SELINUX support.

       -U, --users
	   A comma-separated list of usernames to add as members of the group.

	   The default behavior (if the -g, -N, and -U options are not specified) is defined by the USERGROUPS_ENAB variable
	   in /etc/login.defs.

CONFIGURATION
       The following configuration variables in /etc/login.defs change the behavior of this tool:

       GID_MAX (number), GID_MIN (number)
	   Range of group IDs used for the creation of regular groups by useradd, groupadd, or newusers.

	   The default value for GID_MIN (resp.	 GID_MAX) is 1000 (resp. 60000).

       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.

       SYS_GID_MAX (number), SYS_GID_MIN (number)
	   Range of group IDs used for the creation of system groups by useradd, groupadd, or newusers.

	   The default value for SYS_GID_MIN (resp.  SYS_GID_MAX) is 101 (resp.	 GID_MIN-1).

FILES
       /etc/group
	   Group account information.

       /etc/gshadow
	   Secure group account information.

       /etc/login.defs
	   Shadow password suite configuration.

CAVEATS
       You may not add a NIS or LDAP group. This must be performed on the corresponding server.

       If the groupname already exists in an external group database such as NIS or LDAP, groupadd will deny the group
       creation request.

EXIT VALUES
       The groupadd command exits with the following values:

       0
	   success

       2
	   invalid command syntax

       3
	   invalid argument to option

       4
	   GID is already used (when called without -o)

       9
	   group name is already used

       10
	   can't update group file

SEE ALSO
       chfn(1), chsh(1), passwd(1), gpasswd(8), groupdel(8), groupmod(8), login.defs(5), useradd(8), userdel(8), usermod(8).

shadow-utils 4.17.4					 02/02/2026						 GROUPADD(8)