6.3.2.3. /etc/group
The
/etc/group file is world-readable and contains a list of groups, each on a separate line. Each line is a four field, colon delimited list including the following information:
- Group name — The name of the group. Used by various utility programs as a human-readable identifier for the group.
- Group password — If set, this allows users that are not part of the group to join the group by using the
newgrpcommand and typing the password stored here. If a lower casexis in this field, then shadow group passwords are being used. - Group ID (GID) — The numerical equivalent of the group name. It is used by the operating system and applications when determining access privileges.
- Member list — A comma delimited list of the users belonging to the group.
Here is an example line from
/etc/group:
general:x:502:juan,shelley,bob
This line shows that the
general group is using shadow passwords, has a GID of 502, and that juan, shelley, and bob are members.
For more information on
/etc/group, see the group(5) man page.
