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What exactly is a "system user" and "system group"? Does it correspond to a specific application (e.g., mysql, ntp, dbus), a capability (e.g., wheel, audio, disk), neither, or both? If it does correspond to a specific application or capability, why are the UIDs and GIDs of these users and groups, respectively, lower than SYS_UID_MIN and SYS_GID_MIN (defined in /etc/login.defs), respectively?
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When using useradd without the-u/--uid option it will pick a free UID in the range:
SYS_UID_MIN..SYS_UID_MAX if -r/--system option is present
UID_MIN..UID_MAX otherwise
(respectively with groupadd, -g/--gid, GID).
and apparently Arch has a policy of using number below SYS_{UID,GID}_MIN for distro provided accounts.
that's really all there is to it. it's mostly a matter of convention (only uid/gid 0 are truly special, afaict).
Last edited by vcap (2011-09-06 15:12:47)
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