GPASSWD(1) User Commands GPASSWD(1)

gpasswd - administer /etc/group and /etc/gshadow

gpasswd [option] group

The gpasswd command is used to administer /etc/group, and /etc/gshadow. Every group can have administrators, members and a password.

System administrators can use the -A option to define group administrator(s) and the -M option to define members. They have all rights of group administrators and members.

gpasswd called by a group administrator with a group name only prompts for the new password of the group.

If a password is set the members can still use newgrp(1) without a password, and non-members must supply the password.

Les mots de passe de groupe représentent naturellement un risque en matière de sécurité, puisque plusieurs personnes ont connaissance du mot de passe. Cependant, les groupes sont utiles pour permettre la coopération entre différents utilisateurs.

Except for the -A and -M options, the options cannot be combined.

The options which apply to the gpasswd command are:

-a, --add user

Add the user to the named group.

-d, --delete user

Remove the user from the named group.

-h, --help

Afficher un message d'aide et quitter.

-Q, --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. No SELINUX support.

-r, --remove-password

Remove the password from the named group. The group password will be empty. Only group members will be allowed to use newgrp to join the named group.

-R, --restrict

Restrict the access to the named group. The group password is set to "!". Only group members with a password will be allowed to use newgrp to join the named group.

-A, --administrators user,...

Configurer la liste des administrateurs.

-M, --members user,...

Configurer la liste des membres du groupe.

This tool only operates on the /etc/group and /etc/gshadow files. Thus you cannot change any NIS or LDAP group. This must be performed on the corresponding server.

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

ENCRYPT_METHOD (string)

This defines the system default encryption algorithm for encrypting passwords (if no algorithm is specified on the command line).

It can take one of these values: SHA256, SHA512 (default), YESCRYPT. See crypt(5) for recommendations.

Note: this only affects the generation of group passwords. The generation of user passwords is done by PAM and subject to the PAM configuration. It is recommended to set this variable consistently with the PAM configuration.

History: This variable is used by other programs, which may still default to unsafe algorithms such as DES. To avoid using unsafe algorithms, the variable should always be specified.

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).

La valeur par défaut est 0, ce qui signifie qu'il n'y a pas de limites pour le nombre de membres dans un groupe.

Cette fonctionnalité (groupe découpé) permet de limiter la longueur des lignes dans le fichier de groupes. Ceci est utile pour s'assurer que les lignes pour les groupes NIS ne sont pas plus grandes que 1024 caractères.

Si vous avez besoin de configurer cette limite, vous pouvez utiliser 25.

Remarque : les groupes découpés ne sont peut-être pas pris en charge par tous les outils (même dans la suite d'outils Shadow). Vous ne devriez pas utiliser cette variable, sauf si vous en avez vraiment besoin.

SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS (number), SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS (number)

When ENCRYPT_METHOD is set to SHA256 or SHA512, this defines the number of SHA rounds used by the encryption algorithm by default (when the number of rounds is not specified on the command line).

With a lot of rounds, it is more difficult to brute force the password. But note also that more CPU resources will be needed to authenticate users.

If not specified, the libc will choose the default number of rounds (5000), which is orders of magnitude too low for modern hardware.

Les valeurs doivent être comprises dans l'intervalle 1 000 - 999 999 999.

If only one of the SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS or SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS values is set, then this value will be used.

If SHA_CRYPT_MIN_ROUNDS > SHA_CRYPT_MAX_ROUNDS, the highest value will be used.

Note: this only affect the generation of group passwords. The generation of user passwords is done by PAM and subject to the PAM configuration. It is recommended to set this variable consistently with the PAM configuration.

/etc/group

Informations sur les groupes.

/etc/gshadow

Informations sécurisées sur les groupes.

newgrp(1), groupadd(8), groupdel(8), groupmod(8), grpck(8), group(5), gshadow(5).

30/07/2026 shadow-utils 4.20.0