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Linux is a multi-user operating system. This means that more than one user can be actively logged and using the system at any one time. Obviously, it makes sense for each user to have their own user account and home directory, and for different users to have different privileges.
Users are further divided into groups for the purposes of easier administration and those groups can have different levels of privileges. For example, you may have a group of users who work in the Accounting department. In such an environment you may wish to create an ''accounts'' group and assign all the Accounting department personnel to that group.
In this chapter we will cover the steps to add, remove and manage users and groups on an Ubuntu Linux system.
De-select any privileges you do not wish the new user to have. In particular you will want to ensure the user does not have ''Administration'' privilege unless the user is a trusted system administrator. To disable administration privileges, ensure that the ''Administer the system'' option is deselected (the default setting). The other privileges are usually considered to be safe for the typical user.
The final screen on the ''Add user dialog'' allows ''Advanced'' settings to be defined. These include such issues as the home directory of the user (traditionally /usrhome/''username''), the type of shell that is presented as the command line in a terminal window (Bash is usually the default and there is no reason to change this unless you specifically need a different shell), the group to which the user belongs and the user ID. Use the drop down group menu to change the user's group membership to a different group:
