Your little window is going to screw up the log lines but here goes... I have a real problem with useradd. I have a list of over 2100 users I need to add in one shot. The script I setup uses the useradd program. It doesn't start the UID's at 500 like it says to in /etc/login.defs /etc/login.defs # # Min/max values for automatic uid selection in useradd # UID_MIN 500 UID_MAX 60000 man useradd says it uses those settings to chose UID's OK, Here is where things get weird. useradd starts UID's at 100 and moves up to 499 then starts over at 15. What the hell is that? Then it adds users till it hits 99 then yacks no more UIDS... While I add users here is the messages log... Oct 6 10:36:36 orion useradd[13936]: new user: name=cti, uid=495, gid=100, home=/home/users/cti, shell=/bin/bash Oct 6 10:36:37 orion useradd[13937]: new user: name=infonet, uid=496, gid=100, home=/home/users/infonet, shell=/bin/bash Oct 6 10:36:37 orion useradd[13938]: new user: name=esquire, uid=497, gid=100, home=/home/users/esquire, shell=/bin/bash Oct 6 10:36:38 orion useradd[13939]: new user: name=dkmj, uid=498, gid=100, home=/home/users/dkmj, shell=/bin/bash Oct 6 10:36:38 orion useradd[13940]: new user: name=ricky, uid=499, gid=100, home=/home/users/ricky, shell=/bin/bash Oct 6 10:36:38 orion useradd[13941]: new user: name=pondhome, uid=15, gid=100, home=/home/users/pondhome, shell=/bin/bash Oct 6 10:36:39 orion useradd[13942]: new user: name=brianb, uid=16, gid=100, home=/home/users/brianb, shell=/bin/bash Oct 6 10:36:39 orion useradd[13943]: new user: name=getsales, uid=17, gid=100, home=/home/users/getsales, shell=/bin/bash Oct 6 10:36:40 orion useradd[13944]: new user: name=gethelp, uid=18, gid=100, home=/home/users/gethelp, shell=/bin/bash Oct 6 10:36:40 orion useradd[13945]: new user: name=p84, uid=19, gid=100, home=/home/users/p84, shell=/bin/bash Oct 6 10:36:40 orion useradd[13946]: new user: name=tisay, uid=20, gid=100, home=/home/users/tisay, shell=/bin/bash Oct 6 10:36:41 orion useradd[13947]: new user: name=dmardis, uid=21, gid=100, home=/home/users/dmardis, shell=/bin/bash ... Oct 6 10:37:39 orion useradd[14021]: new user: name=lapere, uid=95, gid=100, home=/home/users/lapere, shell=/bin/bash Oct 6 10:37:41 orion useradd[14022]: new user: name=rac1, uid=96, gid=100, home=/home/users/rac1, shell=/bin/bash Oct 6 10:37:42 orion useradd[14023]: new user: name=greg, uid=97, gid=100, home=/home/users/greg, shell=/bin/bash Oct 6 10:37:43 orion useradd[14024]: new user: name=jlovell, uid=98, gid=100, home=/home/users/jlovell, shell=/bin/bash The output from useradd once it hits UID 98... useradd: can't get unique uid useradd: can't get unique uid useradd: can't get unique uid useradd: can't get unique uid useradd: can't get unique uid useradd: can't get unique uid The command line I use... Has the passwords snipped from another Unix system. useradd-m -n -r pammy -p '$1$dag7cC3a$N3C11h.16sE.O8vMZkNfX1' useradd -m -n -r stardust -p '$1$.h8nkYBG$XACifQo4W33dbwJ37gStA/' useradd -m -n -r cent21 -p '$1$J/hdolql$MUkZiu1Be5XOuY5wccpMu0' useradd -m -n -r mark -p '$1$JHthpT0R$.iu4Bmvx/ax/aLRE2MAfF/' useradd -m -n -r robertf -p '$1$0zBOeLVf$58FHhKhAjfpFkhsjdXwhf1' useradd -m -n -r n1rby -p '$1$iJh.Tn7f$KZoYmNOIoCCAbfgUzx2QG.' useradd -m -n -r nasus -p '$1$FMbeJL5f$jRtbTqDFNKkCehII5WiZr0' useradd -m -n -r luck -p '$1$iuGezdHM$J2c9ObqxGgIWJDwbrdj9Z/' Please, What's going on? This is a new RH5.2 install. The password file was empty except for the basic system accounts. I've run all the nessary updates from RH's updates ftp site.
Here is a URL to a readable version of what I posted. The web based tool for posting chopped my lines :( http://www.massachusetts.net/~tom/useradd.txt
-r adds a system account, one with an id lower than 500. useradd is doing exactly what you asked it to, according to the manual page.