remove users from system

[Jerry McAllister]

> 
> hi everybody,
> 
> i recently switched from linux to freebsd, so this question might sound 
> a little stupid
> 
> the problem
> i removed 2 users from my system by deleting their entries in /etc/passwd 
> and /etc/group (they had their own group and where in no other groups)
> 
> the users are still able to login after i deleted them
> the rmuser command now does not remove them anymore because it cannot find 
> their entries in /etc/passwd, cause as mentioned i deleted them from their
> 
> the handbook lists all actions that are taken, when the rmuser command is 
> executed and i did all actions manually except the deletion of the home 
> directories of those users, because i want to keep them
> 
> how can i remove those users completely?
> and is there something like a /etc/shadow file?

You said you did what rmuser does  "manually".   I presume that
means that you did not use rmuser directly.   So, what did you
use to delete the entry from the /etc/passwd file?   As you have
guessed, there is a 'shadow' file (which is called master.passwd).
There is also a password database (pwd.db).
If you edit /etc/passwd directly, then neither master.passwd nor pwd.db
will be correctly updated.   So, you need to use a utility called 'vipw'.
It is just like using vi.   type vipw, do your editing - remove the 
line from the file - and write/quit to get out.  When you leave vipw
with a write, it will automatically update master.passwd and pwd.db
for you.

////jerry

> 
> please cc me on the answer as i am not in the list

Oh, you should be.   You would learn so much.

/jrm

> 
> thanks in advance
> olaf
>