Users & Groups setup

Development Discussion
6

In a nutshell, the ID is simply a unique number for that user, mainly used for determining permissions on files/folders.

  • 0 - root.
  • 1000 - default user.
  • 999 - live session user.

Services ran on the system have their own too:

  • 33 - www-data (Apache Server)
  • 104 - syslog
  • 112 - pulse (Audio Daemon)
  • 120 - lightdm (Display Manager)

It's one reason why my ext4 formatted external hard drive is owned by me (1000) but when I plug it in to a live session, I get a "You do not have permission" message.

You can use this command to find the ID of a user:

id -u <user>

So really, it doesn't matter what the ID is set to, as long as it doesn't interfere with an existing ID.

3 Likes