usermod

[McDougall, Marshall (FSH)]

"usermod -Gsteve steve" should remove him from all groups except steve.  If
the group is in the list, then the user is added to the group.  If the group
is not in the list, then the user is removed from any groups not in the
list.  This is the way I go about it.  We all know that with *nix, there is
always more than 1 way to accomplish it.

Regards, Marshall

-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Buehler [mailto:steve at ibapp.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2005 8:41 AM
To: General Red Hat Linux discussion list
Cc: MarMcDouga at gov.mb.ca
Subject: RE: usermod


At 08:34 AM 3/30/2005, you wrote:
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Steve Buehler [mailto:steve at ibapp.com]
>>Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2005 8:21 AM
>>To: redhat-list at redhat.com
>>Subject: usermod
>>
>>
>>I know you can use "usermod" on RedHat Linux to add a user to another
group
>>by typing:
>>usermod -G sam,frank steve
>>This would effectively add steve to the "frank" and "sam" group.  How do
>>you remove them from those groups without editing the /etc/group file
>>manually?  I can do:
>>usermod -G steve steve
>>That will remove him from "sam" and "frank" groups but would add steve to
>>his own group so the /etc/group file would look like:
>>steve:x:590:steve
>>instead of just:
>>steve:x:590:
>>For the life of me, I can't figure this one out.  Does anybody know?

>If you "usermod -G sam,frank steve" and realize that you shouldn't have put
>steve in the frank group, just "usermod -G sam steve" and by omission, will
>remove the user from the group.  HTH

Yes, but what if I want to remove him from both groups.  You can't type 
"usermod -G steve".  Basically, I am wanting to remove him from ALL groups 
except for his initial group.  And "usermod -g steve steve" will not do it 
either.  The "-G" must have atleast one group as an 
option..................................I just tried something that seems 
to work, but not sure if it is suppose to work this way.  I typed:
usermod -G "" steve
and that removed steve from all extra groups.  So either my problem is 
solved, or there is another "proper" way of doing it.

Thanks for your help
Steve