.\"	$OpenBSD: netgroup.5,v 1.10 2001/11/13 13:54:26 mpech Exp $
.\"	$NetBSD: netgroup.5,v 1.3 1995/03/18 14:58:34 cgd Exp $
.\"
.\" Copyright (c) 1992, 1993
.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
.\" are met:
.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
.\"    must display the following acknowledgement:
.\"	This product includes software developed by the University of
.\"	California, Berkeley and its contributors.
.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
.\"    without specific prior written permission.
.\"
.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
.\"
.\"     @(#)netgroup.5	8.2 (Berkeley) 12/11/93
.\"
.Dd December 11, 1993
.Dt NETGROUP 5
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm netgroup
.Nd defines network groups
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm netgroup
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
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
.Ar host ,
.Ar user ,
and
.Ar 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 single character
.Dq \&-
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
database.
.Pp
These functions operate on the
.Xr db 3
version of the
.Nm
.Pq Pa netgroup.db
file which can be generated using
.Xr netgroup_mkdb 8 .
If that file is not present, and the system supports NIS, then the
.Nm
NIS maps are used.
The NIS maps are also used if the
.Nm
file contains a
.Dq +
entry.
.Pp
Lines that begin with a
.Ql #
are treated as comments.
.Sh FILES
.Bl -tag -width /etc/netgroup.db -compact
.It Pa /etc/netgroup.db
netgroup database
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr getnetgrent 3 ,
.Xr exports 5 ,
.Xr netgroup_mkdb 8
.Sh COMPATIBILITY
The file format is compatible with that of various vendors, although it
appears that not all vendors use an identical format.
.Sh BUGS
The interpretation of access restrictions based on the member tuples of a
netgroup is left up to the various network applications.