Bug#1055312: adduser: "addgroup user group" is mentioned in man page but does not work anymore (ex bug 664869)

[boffi]

Package: adduser
Version: 3.137
Severity: normal
X-Debbugs-Cc: giacom...@gmail.com

Dear Maintainer,
on my ap to date Debian Sid system

$ man addgroup # says
...

Add an existing user to an existing group
If called with two non-option arguments, adduser will add an existing
user to an existing group.
...
$

but when I try to add a user to a group, this is what it happens

$ sudo addgroup donald ducks
[sudo] password for boffi:
fatal: addgroup with two arguments is an unspecified operation.
$

as far as I can tell, this was the outcome of bug 664869,
where the OP claimed that the two arguments call was not
mentioned in the man page.

It is mentioned, at least in my man page.

Regards ፨ gb

-- System Information:
Debian Release: trixie/sid
APT prefers oldoldstable
APT policy: (500, 'oldoldstable'), (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 6.3.0-2-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU threads; PREEMPT)
Kernel taint flags: TAINT_PROPRIETARY_MODULE, TAINT_OOT_MODULE, TAINT_UNSIGNED_MODULE
Locale: LANG=C.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=C.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE not set
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
LSM: AppArmor: enabled

Versions of packages adduser depends on:
ii passwd 1:4.13+dfsg1-3

adduser recommends no packages.

Versions of packages adduser suggests:
ii cron 3.0pl1-178
ii liblocale-gettext-perl 1.07-6
ii perl 5.36.0-9
pn quota <none>

-- debconf information:
adduser/homedir-permission: true
adduser/title:

[Jamene...@freemailonline.us]

Package: adduser
Followup-For: Bug #1055312

You should use:
$ sudo adduser donald ducks

Instead of trying to make `addgroup` do that.

[Marc Haber]

On Fri, Nov 03, 2023 at 11:27:43PM +0100, boffi wrote:
> $ man addgroup # says
> ...
>
> Add an existing user to an existing group
> If called with two non-option arguments, adduser will add an existing
> user to an existing group.

adduser and addgroup share a man page, and the two-argument form is only
supported for adduser, not for addgroup, see SYNOPSIS in the manual
page.

And the text you quoted explicitly says that it is add_user_ that will

add an existing user to an existing group.

> but when I try to add a user to a group, this is what it happens
>
> $ sudo addgroup donald ducks
> [sudo] password for boffi:
> fatal: addgroup with two arguments is an unspecified operation.
> $

The message is correct, it is an unspecified operation according to the
SYNOPSIS.

Let me know what we can improve, but I think that everything is fine
here.

Greetings
Marc

--
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[theofficialgman]

This bug has been reported by multiple users across multiple bug reports. It is functionality that has existed since 1995 and is well adopted and expected in scripts and documentation (both the manpage and 3rd party). Fix the manpage and revert the patch and accept that this is intended and necessary functionality. Breaking something that has existed for 25 years just because the documentation isn't as clear as you would like is not a valid excuse.