Create specific GID for a group and add a user to it on Mac OS X 10.5

Question

How do I create a group with a specific GID and add a user to it on Mac OS X 10.5?

The problem is that macfuse is not smart enough to handle groups when it mounts, so I can't open files which on the remote site that do not belong to my user (though I should be able to open them due to group permissions).

Since I see those files as belonging to group "33" I need to create a group with gid=33 and hope that it fixes the problem.

Answer 1

If you're looking for a more easy to use GUI, I suggest download the Server Admin Tools for your appropriate version (in this case Mac OS X 10.5.7 Server Admin Tools). The program Workgroup Manager can provide a UI to manage users and groups.

The alternative will use dscl on the Terminal and does not require downloading any additional software.

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To change Mac OS X's users and groups from the command line you want to use a command called dscl.

To create a new group (change groupName to your group name - avoid spaces, shortusername should be your short user name):

dscl . -create /Groups/groupName
dscl . -create /Groups/groupName name groupName
dscl . -create /Groups/groupName passwd "*"
dscl . -create /Groups/groupName gid 33
dscl . -create /Groups/groupName GroupMembership shortusername

If you want to use Workgroup Manager; you need to open the application and login onto localhost using your username and password. (This all assumes you're a local administrator). Once in the program:

1. Click on the Groups tab on the left side. The icon with multiple people.
2. Click New Group from the toolbar
3. Enter a name, and set the Group ID: to 33
4. Click on the Members tab, and then press the '+' button and drag and drop your user name into the list.
5. Press Save, then quit the program.