FreeBSD® Unleashed

Why Use Groups?

Every user belongs to some primary group, generally a group of one, which has the same name as the user. This can be changed as you see fit; for instance, you may decide to have all users belong to the “users” group as their primary group. However, having a different group for every user gives you more flexibility, as we will see a little later—and it is also a more secure model. There is also more information on unique “personal” groups in man adduser.

Any user can also belong to any other groups in the system, such as other users' “personal” groups, the “wheel” group, or any other groups that you create (by adding them to the /etc/group file, as we will see later). However, the super-user is the only one who can control who ...