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   Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Thursday, 18-Jul-2024 00:11:37 JST Aral Balkan

   Linux: We have no idea why folks think we’re hard to use.

   Also Linux: Would you like to use useradd or adduser to add a user to your system?

   🤔

   #linux #userAdd #addUser #decisionDecisions

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Thursday, 18-Jul-2024 00:15:54 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     Hint: use adduser, which is perl wrapper around useradd when working interactively and useradd from scripts, as it is more portable.

     (And if you’re setting up a server in an automated fashion, let cloud-init, etc., handle it for you.)

     #linux #userAdd #addUser #cloudInit #server #setup #interactive #scripted

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Thursday, 18-Jul-2024 00:16:36 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Lutz G.

     @llutz Nope, sshed into an Alma Linux 9 box as we speak an its there too.

   • Embed this notice
     Lutz G. (llutz@norden.social)'s status on Thursday, 18-Jul-2024 00:16:37 JST Lutz G.

     in reply to

     @aral The "adduser" script (Perl) is only available on debian-based distros, isn't it?

   • Embed this notice
     翠星石 (suiseiseki@freesoftwareextremist.com)'s status on Thursday, 18-Jul-2024 00:29:51 JST 翠星石

     in reply to
     @aral None of that software is from Linux or cares about what kernel you use - all they care about is the /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, /etc/group and /etc/group- files existing and being in the correct format.
     
     useradd is from shadow; `git clone https://github.com/shadow-maint/shadow` and requires passing flags to add a user in the way you would expect.
     
     adduser is from Debian and is a perl script that prompts what password and groups etc you want to enter and then passes that to useradd without you having to look up the flags.
     
     There is also superadduser from slackware that is pretty much adduser except written in GNU bash instead of perl.
     
     Most LiGNUx distros just ask user the username and password they want in the GUI installer and then most users don't need to add another user - in case they do, most of them have a GUI tool in the settings that will add the user.
     
     Having multiple ways to do things is fine as some people prefer adding users in a different way to other people, plus that's also very beneficial if something breaks on the system as there will always be an alternative way to fix things - for example if perl breaks on a system and you need to add a user as part of fixing it - adduser will not function, but useradd and superadduser will - although you could also just hand-modify /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow in the Church of Emacs.
     
     Demanding that there is only one way to do things is very systemd/Linux-esque.
   • Embed this notice
     Alexandre Oliva (lxo@gnusocial.net)'s status on Thursday, 18-Jul-2024 01:23:13 JST Alexandre Oliva

     in reply to
     seriously, is having choice and simplifying wrappers what makes it hard to use? well, then, fixing that should be easy: just remove choice and the wrappers, and see how easy you find the result. doh!
   • Embed this notice
     robin (nottrobin@union.place)'s status on Thursday, 18-Jul-2024 14:57:40 JST robin

     in reply to

     @aral there is an ever present cognitive dissonance to being a Linux nerd & dev who cares about usability

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Thursday, 18-Jul-2024 14:57:40 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • robin

     @nottrobin Story of my life :)