8.1 Synopsis

FreeBSD allows multiple users to use the computer at the same time. Obviously, only one of those users can be sitting in front of the screen and keyboard at any one time [1], but any number of users can log in through the network to get their work done. To use the system every user must have an account.

After reading this chapter, you will know:

• The differences between the various user accounts on a FreeBSD system.

• How to add user accounts.

• How to remove user accounts.

• How to change account details, such as the user's full name, or preferred shell.

• How to set limits on a per-account basis, to control the resources such as memory and CPU time that accounts and groups of accounts are allowed to access.

• How to use groups to make account management easier.

Before reading this chapter, you should:

• Understand the basics of Unix and FreeBSD (Chapter 3).