User IDs and Group IDs
A computer is, by its very nature, a number-oriented machine. It identifies users and groups by numbers known as the user ID (UID) and group ID (GID). The alphabetic names display on your screen just for ease of use.
As previously mentioned, the root user is UID 0. Numbers from 1 through 499 and number 65,534 are the system, sometimes called logical or pseudo-users. Regular users have UIDs beginning with 1,000; Ubuntu assigns them sequentially beginning with this number.
With only a few exceptions, the GID is the same as the UID.
Ubuntu creates a private GID for every UID of 1,000 and greater. The system administrator can add other users to a GID or create a totally new group and add users to it. Unlike Windows NT and some ...
Get Ubuntu Unleashed 2014 Edition: Covering 13.10 and 14.04,Ninth Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.