GROUPDEL(8) System Management Commands GROUPDEL(8)
NAME
groupdel - delete a group
SYNOPSIS
groupdel [options] GROUP
DESCRIPTION
The groupdel command modifies the system account files, deleting all
entries that refer to GROUP. The named group must exist.
OPTIONS
The options which apply to the groupdel command are:
-h, --help
Display help message and exit.
-R, --root CHROOT_DIR
Apply changes in the CHROOT_DIR directory and use the configuration
files from the CHROOT_DIR directory.
-P, --prefix PREFIX_DIR
Apply changes in the PREFIX_DIR directory and use the configuration
files from the PREFIX_DIR directory. 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.
CAVEATS
You may not remove the primary group of any existing user. You must
remove the user before you remove the group.
You should manually check all file systems to ensure that no files
remain owned by this group.
CONFIGURATION
The following configuration variables in /etc/login.defs change the
behavior of this tool:
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.
FILES
/etc/group
Group account information.
/etc/gshadow
Secure group account information.
EXIT VALUES
The groupdel command exits with the following values:
0
success
2
invalid command syntax
6
specified group doesn't exist
8
can't remove user's primary group
10
can't update group file
SEE ALSO
chfn(1), chsh(1), passwd(1), gpasswd(8), groupadd(8), groupmod(8),
useradd(8), userdel(8), usermod(8).
shadow-utils 4.8.1 02/07/2020 GROUPDEL(8)