NAME Unix::Mgt - lightweight Unix management tools SYNOPSIS # get user account $user = Unix::Mgt::User->get('fred'); # display some info print 'uid: ', $user->uid, "\n"; print join(', ', $user->groups()), "\n"; # set some properties $user->gid('websters'); $user->shell('/bin/bash'); $user->add_to_group('postgres'); # create user account $user = Unix::Mgt::User->create('vera'); # get user account, creating it if necessary $user = Unix::Mgt::User->ensure('molly'); # get group $group = Unix::Mgt::Group->get('www-data'); # display some info print 'gid: ', $group->gid, "\n"; print join(', ', $group->members()), "\n"; # add a member $group->add_member('tucker'); DESCRIPTION Unix::Mgt provides simple object-oriented tools for managing your Unixish system. Currently this module provides tools for managing users and groups. Other tools may follow as they evolve. Unix::Mgt does not directly manipulate any of the system files such as /etc/passwd. This module uses Perl's built-in Unix functions such as getgrent to get information, and Unix's built-in programs such as adduser. Early release In the spirit of "release early, release often", I'm releasing this version of Unix::Mgt before it has all the features that might be expected. This version does not include methods for removing users from groups, renaming users or groups, or several other methods. Help with BSD development This version does not work well on BSDish systems. Although the methods for retrieving information such as get and group work well, this module currently cannot create, modify, or delete users or group. If you'd like to help fill in these features, here's what needs to be done. Several places in the code is the comment "BSD code needed". In those places what we need is to build an array consisting of an external command and the arguments to be sent to the command. It would look something like this: # build command @cmd = ( 'pw', 'useradd', $user->{'name'}, '-G', $group->{'name'}, ); The first element of the array is the program to be run. You don't need to put the full path of the program, Unix::SearchPathGuess should find it. (If it doesn't please let me know, we may need to fix Unix::SearchPathGuess.) The remaining elements are the params sent to the program using IPC::System::Simple. The program is not run in a shell, but instead is called directly, so it isn't necessary to do any shell escaping. The following methods currently need patching. In Unix::Mgt::User we need create(), field_get_set(), group(), add_to_group(), and remove(). In Unix::Mgt::Group we need create() and remove(). We will need more as we add features to this module. Please email me at miko@idocs.com if you've made these mods. Unix::Mgt::User A Unix::Mgt::User object represents a user in the Unix system. The object allows you to get and set information about the user account. A user object is created in one of three ways: get, create, or ensure. Note that there is no new method. Unix::Mgt::User objects stringify to the account's name. For example, the following code would output miko. $user = Unix::Mgt::User->get('miko'); print $user, "\n"; get Unix::Mgt::User->get() retrieves user account information using getpwnam or getpwuid. The single param for this method is either the name or the uid of the user. $user = Unix::Mgt::User->get('vera'); $user = Unix::Mgt::User->get('1010'); If the user is not found then the do-not-have-user error id is set in $Unix::Mgt::err_id and undef is returned. create Unix::Mgt::User->create() creates a user account. The required param for this method is the name for the new account. $user = Unix::Mgt::User->create('vera'); If the system param is true, then the account is created as a system user, like this: $user = Unix::Mgt::User->create('lanny', system=>1); create() uses the Unix adduser program. ensure Unix::Mgt::User->ensure() gets a user account if it already exists, and creates the account if it does not. For example, the following lines ensures the molly account: $user = Unix::Mgt::User->ensure('molly'); name Returns the name of the user account. Currently this method cannot be used to set the account name. print $user->name(), "\n"; uid Returns the user's user id (uid). print $user->uid(), "\n"; passwd Returns the password field from getpwname(). This method will not actually return a password, it will probably just return *. print $user->passwd(), "\n"; # probably outputs "*" gid Sets/gets the gid of the user's primary group. Called without params, it returns the user's gid: print $user->gid(), "\n"; Called with a single param, gid() sets, then returns the user's primary group id: print $user->gid('1010'), "\n"; If you want to get a Unix::Mgt::Group object representing the user's primary group, use $user->group(). dir Sets/gets the user's home directory. Called without params, it returns the directory name: print $user->dir(), "\n"; Called with a single param, dir() sets, then returns the user's home directory: print $user->dir('/tmp'), "\n"; shell Sets/gets the user's default command line shell. Called without params, it returns the shell name: print $user->shell(), "\n"; Called with a single param, shell() sets, then returns the user's shell: print $user->shell('/bin/sh'), "\n"; group Sets/gets the user's primary group. When called without any params, group() returns a Unix::Mgt::Group object representing the user's primary group: $group = $user->group(); When called with a single param, group() sets the user's primary group. The param can be either the group's name or its gid: $user->group('video'); $user->group(44); secondary_groups secondary_groups() returns an array of the user's secondary groups. Each element in the array is a Unix::Mgt::Group object. @groups = $user->secondary_groups(); groups groups() returns an array of all of the groups the user is a member of. The first element in the array will be the user's primary group. @groups = $user->groups(); add_to_group add_to_group() adds the user to a group. The group will be one of the user's secondary groups, not the primary group. $user->add_to_group('video'); remove remove removes the user account from the system. remove does not take any parameters. $user->remove(); Unix::Mgt::Group A Unix::Mgt::Group object represents a group in the Unix system. The object allows you to get and set information about the group. A group object is created in one of three ways: get, create, or ensure. Note that there is no new method. Unix::Mgt::Group objects stringify to the groups's name. For example, the following code would output video. $group = Unix::Mgt::Group->get('video'); print $group, "\n"; get Unix::Mgt::Group->get() retrieves group information using getgrnam or getgrgid. The single param for this method is either the name or the gid of the group. $group = Unix::Mgt::Group->get('video'); $group = Unix::Mgt::Group->get('44'); If the group is not found then the do-not-have-group error id is set in $Unix::Mgt::err_id and undef is returned. create Unix::Mgt::Group->create() creates a group. The required param for this method is the name for the new group. $group = Unix::Mgt::Group->create('websters'); create() uses the Unix groupadd program. ensure Unix::Mgt::Group->ensure() gets a group if it already exists, and creates the group if it does not. For example, the following lines ensures the wbesters group: $group = Unix::Mgt::User->ensure('wbesters'); name Returns the name of the group. Currently this method cannot be used to set the group name. print $group->name(), "\n"; gid Returns the groups's group id (gid). print $group->gid(), "\n"; members members() returns an array of all members of the group. Both users for whom this is the primary group, and users for whom this is a secondary group are returned. @members = $group->members(); The elements in the array are Unix::Mgt::User objects. primary_members primary_members() returns an array of users for whom this is the primary group. @members = $group->primary_members(); The elements in the returned array are Unix::Mgt::User objects. secondary_members secondary_members() returns an array of users for whom this is a secondary group. @members = $group->secondary_members(); The elements in the returned array are Unix::Mgt::User objects. add_member add_member() adds a user to the group as a secondary group. The single param can be a user name, uid, or Unix::Mgt::User object. $group->add_member('miko'); If the user is already a member of the group then nothing is done and no error is set. remove remove removes the group from the system. remove does not take any parameters. $group->remove(); If any users have the group as a primary group then this method will fail. SEE ALSO Passwd::Unix and Unix::Passwd::File provide similar functionality. TERMS AND CONDITIONS Copyright (c) 2014 by Miko O'Sullivan. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. This software comes with no warranty of any kind. AUTHOR Miko O'Sullivan miko@idocs.com TO DO This is an early release of Unix::Mgt. It does not include methods for deleting users, removing them from groups, or other deletion oriented objectives. Please feel free to contribute code for these purposes. HISTORY Version 0.10 December 30, 2014 Initial release Version 0.11 December 31, 2014 Changed addgroup to groupadd. Added tests for existence of adduser, usermod, and groupadd. Version 0.12 January 3, 2015 Fixed some POD formatting issues. Revised tests to include test names. Version 0.13 January 4, 2015 Added $user->remove() and $group->remove(). Added slots where BSD-style commands will go. Currently, methods for creating, modifying, or deleting users or group will fail on BSD.