PTS_REMOVEUSER(1)

📦
version 1.8.16.1 · 10 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💖 PTS_REMOVEUSER(1) 💖

okay bestie, gather round, because this is a page from the AFS Command Reference and it's literally about yeeting a user out of a Protection Database group 💅

✨ NAME ✨

pts_removeuser — removes a user from a Protection Database group 🫶

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

pts removeuser -user <user name>+ -group <group name>+
    [-cell <cell name>] [-noauth] [-localauth] [-force]
    [-help] [-auth] [-encrypt] [-config <config directory>]

pts rem -u <user name>+ -g <group name>+
    [-c <cell name>] [-n] [-l] [-f] [-h]
    [-a] [-e] [-co <config directory>]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So here's the vibe: pts removeuser takes each user or machine named by the -user argument and boots them out of each group named by the -group argument. Multiple users, multiple groups, one command. The way that works is iconic fr fr 👑

Not me reminding you of the related commands though:

  • Wanna add people to a group? That's pts adduser, bestie.
  • Wanna list who's in a group? pts membership, go look.
  • Wanna remove users from a group and delete the whole group entry in literally one step? pts delete handles it.

😭 CAUTIONS 😭

AFS compiles each user's group membership as he or she authenticates. Any users who have valid tokens when they are removed from a group retain the privileges extended to that group's members until they discard their tokens or reauthenticate.

so basically they keep the perks until their tokens get dropped. no cap, plan accordingly 🚨

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • -user <user name>+ — names each user entry to remove, or the IP address (complete or wildcard-style) of each machine entry to remove. give me names or give me addresses 🎀
  • -group <group name>+ — names each group you're removing members from.
  • -auth — use the calling user's tokens to talk to the Protection Server. more deets live in pts(1).
  • -cell <cell name> — names the cell where the command runs. again, pts(1) has the lore.
  • -config <config directory> — use an alternate config directory. pts(1), as always.
  • -encrypt — encrypts any communication with the Protection Server. yep, pts(1).
  • -force — lets the command keep going as far as it possibly can when errors or other problems pop up, instead of slamming to a halt at the very first one. resilience queen ✨
  • -help — prints the online help for this command. all other valid options are ignored, so don't bother combining.
  • -localauth — constructs a server ticket using a key from the local /etc/openafs/server/KeyFile file. Do not combine this flag with the -cell or -noauth options. more details in pts(1).
  • -noauth — assigns the unprivileged identity anonymous to the issuer. pts(1) for the fine print.

🔥 EXAMPLES 🔥

Example one: we're removing user smith from the groups "staff" and "staff:finance". and like, notice that no switch names are necessary because only a single instance is provided for the first argument (the username). lowkey elegant.

% pts removeuser smith staff staff:finance

Example two: we're removing three machine entries — representing all machines in the Example Corporation network — from the group "bin-prot":

% pts removeuser -user 138.255.0.0 192.12.105.0 192.12.106.0 -group bin-prot

👑 PRIVILEGE REQUIRED 👑

The privilege you need depends on the setting of the fifth privacy flag in the Protection Database for the group named by the -group argument (use the pts examine command to display the flags, iykyk):

  • If it is the hyphen, only the group's owner and members of the system:administrators group can remove members.
  • If it is lowercase "r", members of the group can also remove other members.

(It is not possible to set the fifth flag to uppercase "R". so don't even try it 💀)

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

pts(1), pts_adduser(1), pts_examine(1), pts_membership(1), pts_setfields(1)

IBM Corporation 2000. <http://www.ibm.com/> All Rights Reserved.

This documentation is covered by the IBM Public License Version 1.0. It was converted from HTML to POD by software written by Chas Williams and Russ Allbery, based on work by Alf Wachsmann and Elizabeth Cassell.

and that's the whole page bestie, mwah 💋 this came to you courtesy of OpenAFS, dated 2026-07-27 — go forth and remove some users, periodt 🦋✨

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