add a group to a group?

[ToddAndMargo]

Hi All,

What is the syntax to ad a group to a group

I think it is @, but I am not sure

Here I am trying to add all members of "users" to libvert
/etc/group:
libvirt:x:973:@users

What am I doing wrong?

Many thanks,
-T

[Charles Dennett]

On 4/6/25 9:03 AM, ToddAndMargo via users wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> What is the syntax to ad a group to a group
>
> I think it is @, but I am not sure
>
> Here I am trying to add all members of "users" to libvert
> /etc/group:
> libvirt:x:973:@users
>
> What am I doing wrong?
>
> Many thanks,
> -T

I've worked with UNIX (SunOS/Solaris) and Linux (RedHat and Fedora) for 
a long time and I don't believe this was ever possible.  Some googling 
says that is still the case.  Unless there is some distro where this can 
be done.

Charlie

[ToddAndMargo]

On 4/6/25 6:42 AM, Charles Dennett wrote:
> On 4/6/25 9:03 AM, ToddAndMargo via users wrote:
> > Hi All,
> >
> > What is the syntax to ad a group to a group
> >
> > I think it is @, but I am not sure
> >
> > Here I am trying to add all members of "users" to libvert
> > /etc/group:
> > libvirt:x:973:@users
> >
> > What am I doing wrong?
> >
> > Many thanks,
> > -T
>
> I've worked with UNIX (SunOS/Solaris) and Linux (RedHat and Fedora) for 
> a long time and I don't believe this was ever possible.  Some googling 
> says that is still the case.  Unless there is some distro where this can 
> be done.
>
> Charlie

I think I got the @ thing from smb.conf

[Patrick O'Callaghan]

On Sun, 2025-04-06 at 06:03 -0700, ToddAndMargo via users wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> What is the syntax to ad a group to a group
>
> I think it is @, but I am not sure
>
> Here I am trying to add all members of "users" to libvert
> /etc/group:
> libvirt:x:973:@users
>
> What am I doing wrong?

Not reading the manual.

'man -s 5 group'

There's no mention of '@', nor have I ever seen such a thing in my
decades of using and administering UNIX and Linux.

poc

[Cameron Simpson]

On 06Apr2025 17:00, Patrick O'Callaghan  wrote:
> On Sun, 2025-04-06 at 06:03 -0700, ToddAndMargo via users wrote:
> > What is the syntax to ad a group to a group

[...]
> > /etc/group:
> > libvirt:x:973:@users

I have the vague recollection that I've seen a similar syntax in some 
sharing config somewhere.

But not for /etc/group.

I used to have a hierarchical group system set up at a former workplace 
(many teams, many projects, many roles) with the groups mirrored for 
UNIX, WIndows, mailing lists etc.

But it was computed from a user db I devised. /etc/group was just a flat 
list of users.

Cheers,
Cameron Simpson

[ToddAndMargo]

On 4/7/25 3:35 PM, Cameron Simpson wrote:
> On 06Apr2025 17:00, Patrick O'Callaghan  wrote:
> > On Sun, 2025-04-06 at 06:03 -0700, ToddAndMargo via users wrote:
> > > What is the syntax to ad a group to a group
>
> [...]
> > > /etc/group:
> > > libvirt:x:973:@users
>
> I have the vague recollection that I've seen a similar syntax in some 
> sharing config somewhere.
>
> But not for /etc/group.
>
> I used to have a hierarchical group system set up at a former workplace 
> (many teams, many projects, many roles) with the groups mirrored for 
> UNIX, WIndows, mailing lists etc.
>
> But it was computed from a user db I devised. /etc/group was just a flat 
> list of users.
>
> Cheers,
> Cameron Simpson

I do believe I mixed it with smb.conf, which uses @ for groups

$ grep '@' /etc/samba/smb.conf
    valid users = @users
    write list = @users