GROUP(5)                             BSD                              GROUP(5)



NAME
     group - group file

DESCRIPTION
     In BSD, /etc/group is an object of the type group, maintained by the
     registry server (see rgyd(8)).  You cannot edit it directly.  Its type
     manager, however, makes its information available to those utilities
     (grep, cat, etc.) that manage ordinary text.  The succeeding discussion,
     therefore, pertains to that representation of information in /etc/group
     as might be seen by doing "cat /etc/group."

     The file /etc/group contains, for each group, the following information:

          group name
          encrypted password
          numerical group ID
          a comma separated list of all users allowed in the group

     The fields are separated by colons; each group is separated from the next
     by a newline.  If the password field is null, no password is demanded.

     This file resides in the directory /etc.  The encrypted passwords make it
     possible to give others read permission to /etc/group without
     jeopardizing security.  It can be used, for example, to map numerical
     group ID's to names.

FILES
     /etc/group

SEE ALSO
     setgroups(2), initgroups(3X), crypt(3), passwd(1), passwd(5), rgyd(8)

BUGS
     The passwd(1) command won't change the passwords.