SETUP-USER(8)

📦 version 3.22.0, in alpine 3.24

💖 SETUP-USER(8) 💖

okay so first things first: this is a page from the System Manager's Manual, and it's about a lil script called setup-user that literally just makes you a user account. bestie, it's giving "onboarding but make it a shell script" ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

setup-user — create a user account 🫶

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

setup-user [-a] [-f FULLNAME] [-g GROUPS] [-h] [-k SSHKEY] [-u]
[USERNAME]

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

okay so here's the whole vibe: setup-user creates a user account, and optionally it also adds that account to groups, installs SSH authorized keys, and sets up privilege escalation via doas. it does the whole lil package, yk? 👑

now the important bit — if USERNAME isn't specified, the script just runs interactively. and like, heads up: if you pass no flags at all and also nothing for USERNAME, the script exits immediately. like, it simply does not have the energy. 💀 periodt.

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • -a — create an admin user 👑 the user gets added to the wheel group, and doas gets configured with permit persist :wheel in /etc/doas.d/20-wheel.conf. admin main character energy fr fr.
  • -f FULLNAME — sets the full name for the new user. cute, personal, iconic.
  • -g GROUPS — a comma- or space-separated list of supplementary groups. yes, both separators work, she's flexible like that 🌈
  • -h — display usage information and exit. the "help me help you" flag 🫶
  • -k SSHKEY — SSH authorized key for the user 🔑 this accepts a raw key string, an HTTP/HTTPS URL, or none. and the value none skips key setup entirely — no key, no problem.
  • -u — unlock the user with passwd -u. this is intended for non-interactive use when a key-based login is configured, iykyk 🔓

🦋 INTERACTIVE MODE 🦋

so if you don't hand it a USERNAME argument, the script starts prompting you, and it hits you with this:

Setup a user? (enter a lower-case loginname, or 'no')

the default is derived from the full name (if -f was given) or no. so like, she'll guess based on your -f if she can, otherwise she assumes no 🙈

after that, the user gets prompted for a full name, which is set via adduser -g, and then for a password via passwd. classic. 💜

and if -k wasn't given, the script prompts for an SSH key or URL. that prompt accepts these shortcuts — which are literally so convenient, obsessed:

📁 FILES 📁

  • /home/USER_/.ssh/authorized_keys_ — installed when an SSH key is provided 🔑
  • /etc/doas.d/20-wheel.conf — created by the -a option with permit persist :wheel 👑

🌟 EXIT STATUS 🌟

  • 0 — success! slay! ✅
  • non-zero — an error occurred 😭 something went sideways.

💖 SEE ALSO 💖

adduser(8), passwd(1), doas(1), setup-alpine(8)

go read those too, they're the supporting cast and honestly they ate 🫶

👑 AUTHORS 👑

Natanael Copa <ncopa@alpinelinux.org> and others 💜

anyway that's the whole page bestie, you're officially a setup-user expert now 🌈 ✨

this masterpiece is brought to you by Alpine Linux, version/date 2026-06-09 — mwah, bye! 💅 💖

📦 where this page comes from