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What's the difference between useradd and adduser? When/why should I prefer using one or the other?

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What operating system are you referring to? – mfinni Jan 5 '11 at 14:39
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Also - catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html – mfinni Jan 5 '11 at 14:39
This is a Debian Linux based question. – unixman83 Mar 2 '12 at 18:45

4 Answers

up vote 15 down vote accepted

In the case of Debian and its related distros, adduser is a friendlier interactive frontend to useradd.

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It is not about friendliness, it's about usage. You can use adduser for interactively adding an account or you can use useradd for batch adding accounts. useradd has also an interactive mode. – tkorkunckaya Sep 26 '12 at 9:49
up vote 10 down vote

On Ubuntu, useradd simply creates an entry in the user database (/etc/passwd etc.).

adduser on the other hand also creates a home directory for the user, populates it with the content of /etc/skel and lets you set the password interactively.

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+1. man useradd : "useradd is a low level utility for adding users. On Debian, administrators should usually use adduser(8) instead." – petrus Jan 5 '11 at 15:41
I believe adduser also interactively fills in the GECOS fields – Michael Lowman Jan 5 '11 at 16:07
up vote 3 down vote

lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 7 Nov 17 13:52 /usr/sbin/adduser -> useradd

One is a "shortcut" / "symbolic link" to the other. So no difference.

This is on redhat linux (and centos / fedora), it may not hold true on other distros.

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Correct on RH, but some dists such as ubuntu has different binaries. – Ency Jan 5 '11 at 14:48
True, i'll edit my answer. – Sirex Jan 5 '11 at 14:58
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Many binaries and scripts alter their behavior based on the command line invocation. – jscott Jan 5 '11 at 15:15
up vote 2 down vote

On FreeBSD:
adduser is a "friendly" interactive Q&A way to add local users.
useradd doesn't exist.

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