Using the Command Line

If you are want to add a new user to a group (e.g. add the apache www-data user to the subversion group), then open a terminal and enter the following:

sudo adduser www-data subversion 

To add an existing user (e.g. yourself) to a group, open a terminal and enter the following:

sudo usermod -a -G subversion www-data

Using GConfEditor

Note: gconf-editor is not the recommended way to set desktop preferences in modern Ubuntu releases. For more information, see GConfEditor.

As default, the user configuration does not show system users. For granting group membership to e.g. apache (account www-data), you should change this:

1. Start gconf settings editor: Alt+F2 gconf-editor Enter.
2. In the tree, locate /apps/gnome-system-tools/users.
3. Select the "showall" check-box.

Note: For Ubuntu 11.04, gnome-system-tools uses dconf-editor which is not installed by default. The other steps are the same.

Now try out the user and group manager, and you should see all accounts, including computer service accounts: In the System menu, select Administration and then Users and Groups. Click on the Unlock button, and then on the Manage Groups button, and double click the group you need to manage, e.g. "subversion". You can now select the "www-data" user account to allow Apache access to subversion.

CategorySystem