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.\"     @(#)netgroup.5	8.2 (Berkeley) 12/11/93
.\"
.Dd January 16, 1999
.Dt NETGROUP 5
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm netgroup
.Nd defines network groups
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm netgroup
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm netgroup
file
specifies
.Dq netgroups ,
which are sets of
.Sy (host, user, domain)
tuples that are to be given similar network access.
.Pp
Each line in the file
consists of a netgroup name followed by a list of the members of the
netgroup.
Each member can be either the name of another netgroup or a specification
of a tuple as follows:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
(host, user, domain)
.Ed
.Pp
where the
.Sy host ,
.Sy user ,
and
.Sy domain
are character string names for the corresponding component.
Any of the comma separated fields may be empty to specify a
.Dq wildcard
value
or may consist of the string
.Dq Li -
to specify
.Dq no valid value .
The members of the list may be separated by whitespace;
the
.Dq \e
character may be used at the end of a line to specify
line continuation.
The functions specified in
.Xr getnetgrent 3
should normally be used to access the
.Nm netgroup
database.
.Pp
If
.Sq files
is specified for the
.Sq netgroup
database in
.Xr nsswitch.conf 5 ,
(or no
.Sq netgroup
entry is specified), then these functions operate on the
.Xr db 3
version of the
.Nm netgroup
.Nm (netgroup.db)
file which can be generated using
.Xr netgroup_mkdb 8 .
If
.Sq nis
is specified then the
.Tn NIS
maps
.Sq netgroup ,
.Sq netgroup.byhost ,
and
.Sq netgroup.byuser
are used.
.Pp
Lines that begin with a # are treated as comments.
.Sh FILES
.Bl -tag -width /etc/netgroup.db -compact
.It Pa /etc/netgroup.db
the netgroup database.
.El
.Sh COMPATIBILITY
The file format is compatible with that of various vendors, however it
appears that not all vendors use an identical format.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr getnetgrent 3 ,
.Xr exports 5 ,
.Xr nsswitch.conf 5 ,
.Xr netgroup_mkdb 8
.Sh BUGS
The interpretation of access restrictions based on the member tuples of a
netgroup is left up to the various network applications.