5. etc/group

Lesson Content

Another file that is used in user management is the /etc/group file. This file allows for different groups with different permissions.

$ cat /etc/group

root:*:0:pete

Very similar to the /etc/password field, the /etc/group fields are as follows:

• Group name
• Group password - there isn’t a need to set a group password, using an elevated privilege like sudo is standard. A “*” will be put in place as the default value.
• Group ID (GID)
• List of users - you can manually specify users you want in a specific group

Exercise

Run the command groups. What do you see?

Quiz Question