Subject: bug#39023: adduser/addgroup vs useradd/groupadd

From: zimoun <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2020 02:44:24 +0100

Dear,

The bug [1] reports that useradd/groupadd are not provided on BusyBox.
And for example, they had this discussion [2].

[1] https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=39023
[2] http://lists.busybox.net/pipermail/busybox/2016-February/083907.html

For example, on Debian, adduser is a Perl script calling useradd under the hood.

And the current Guix manual says:

<<
On a GNU/Linux system, a build user pool may be created like this
(using Bash syntax and the shadow commands):

where the parenthesis should be understood as: "adapt to your distribution".

Two options:

 a/ explicitly notice in the parenthesis that the chunk needs to be
adapted; mentioning adduser/addgroup instead of useradd/groupadd for
example.

 b/ replace useradd/groupadd by adduser/addgroup using the
corresponding options.

The option b/ means that 'adduser/addgroup' is more portable (more
chance to work on everywhere GNU/linux). I am not convinced.

Personally, I am in favor for option a/.

What do the *NIX gurus think?

All the best,
simon