UserTools Files

README for UserTools v1.0.0 (Public Beta 3)
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	Congratulations on successfully downloading version 1.0.0b3 of the
GHz UserTools!  It is our sincere hope that you find these
tools as useful and sanity-saving as we have.  It has long bothered us that no
consistent set of simple user administration tools exists across the many
different Unix-based and Unix-like operating systems.  Even the simple task of
determining whether or not a user has a valid account requires grepping the
passwd file and eyeballing the text to see if it looks correct.

	These tools were designed with the average ISP technician in mind.  This
someone needs to add, maybe, twenty to one hundred users in one day, verify some
passwords, change some passwords, remove some users, and temporarily disconnect
accounts for non-payment.  Many such technicians have the knowledge to hack
apart the passwd and shadow files to accomplish this, and many do not.
Regardless of ability, hacking apart critical system databases is a
time-consuming and potentially dangerous task--especially on an active system.

  New in this version since Beta 2:

  (*) Group Support:  Add, remove, and rename groups.  Add/remove users from
                      groups, as well!
  (*) Developer Supprt:  The UserTools API has been fully documented.  Now you
                         can embed portable user management capabilities in your
                         own applications!
  (*) Easier installation and removal of UserTools.
  (*) BSD support (finally):  No login classes yet.  Login classes support will
                              finalized in the first v1.0.0 non-beta release.
  (*) Removed several race conditions that would periodically mangle an entry
      or two in /etc/passwd.
  (*) newuser now uses /etc/skel instead of $HOMEROOT/profile.tar.gz when
      creating a new user's default environment.
  (*) Configurable non-admin access to certain tools (isuser, for example).
  (*) Now none of the tools depend on external programs/libraries (they
      all depend on libUT.so now, of course).
  (*) Shadowed password support is now optional.  If, for some reason, you
      don't like shadowed passwords, you don't have to use them.  Download
      the "non-shadowed password support" upgrade from the UserTools website
      to turn on this ``feature''.
  (*) The usual round of security enhancements and bug-fixes.
  (*) Final Beta!  The next public release of UserTools will NOT be a beta
      release.  The API is solidified enough and the code is stable enough to
      be used in a ``production'' environment.

	For more complete documentation see the "usertools" man page.

  For more information about developing applications that use UserTools,
obtaining email support for UserTools, and reporting bugs in UserTools, please
visit the UserTools website at http://usertools.totalaccess.net/

  Also, soon to be available at the UserTools website:

  (*) A collection of shell scripts and PERL CGIs that utilize UserTools
      to simplify 
  (*) A plug-in library and daemon that allow remote administration of
      UserTools-enabled hosts.
  (*) A remote-only version of the UserTools client kit to allow command-line
      remote administration of UserTools-enabled hosts.
  (*) A graphical interface to UserTools functions on local and remote
      hosts.
  (*) A Java-based client (and accelerated Win32 native client) that can
      access UserTools functions on UserTools-enabled hosts.
  (*) A web-based (CGI) interface to UserTools functions.

	We hope you enjoy using the UserTools suite!

*  Ted Greem <dev@ghz.pw>
 * UserTools Maintainer
*  Gigahertz (dev.ghz.pw)