removing a group

[Arizona Adams]

Yes, it's very, very important to use a consistent manner in adding user
names/groups.  It's often the first thing that goes wrong. 
Additionally, the shadow file is an important file, but if the group or
user does not exist, it throws the ball back to you.  It's important to
not touch the shadow file unless you are very sure of yourself and know
exactly why you are fixing something there.  It has a tendency to throw
more than just a little bit of a fit when you mess with it.

I have also found that adding a user works by creating directories and
adding to files in a certain pattern as is evident by the adduser file. 
Additionally, when you remove a user properly, it removes all file line
items, directories and such in the reverse pattern.  If this does not
happen, you may need to try another switch such as -R, meaning
recursive.

Hope this further helps in your endeavors. 

Kimi Adams

On Sat, 2003-02-15 at 16:52, Lynn David Newton wrote:
> 
>   Michael> Thanks Lynn.
>   Michael> What does this mean?
> 
>   Michael> [root@localhost bmike1]# groupdel Downloadtest
>   Michael> groupdel: error removing shadow group entry
>   Michael> [root@localhost bmike1]#
> 
> It means it didn't happen. In your mail below you said
> the group name was "downloads" not "Downloadtest".
> Could this possibly be the source of your problem?
> 
> Remember too that Unix is case-sensitive. The string
> "Xyz" is not the same as "xyz". Furthermore, although
> it's not forbidden to do otherwise, it's standard
> practice to use lower case login and group names. I
> highly recommend following that practice.
> 
>   Michael> On Saturday 15 February 2003 02:37 pm, Lynn David Newton wrote:
>   Michael> remove it and then attempt to add it but the
>   Michael> maCHINE WON'T let me. It says that I have a
>   Michael> group with to similar of a name. I look in
>   Michael> my groups listing and there is a group
>   Michael> called 'downloads'
>   >> 
>   >> groupdel downloads
>   >> 
>   >> But first consult the man page for groupdel(8) because
>   >> there are some minor considerations.
>   >> 
>   >> Your situation suggests that the original user was
>   >> removed improperly or incompletely. Most Unix/Linux
>   >> systems these days are set up to create a group by the
>   >> same name as the user and make that the new user's
>   >> default group. If the user's name is simply whacked out
>   >> of the password file, the group name remains, and you
>   >> can't create a new user with the same name because the
>   >> old group name remains. But groupdel, which is not
>   >> needed often, will get rid of a group for you.
> 
>   Michael> -- 
>   Michael> :-)~Mike~(-:
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> Lynn
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