# Where can I find information about what the different freebsd groups are used for?



## decuser (Jun 27, 2020)

I've read the handbook and I've used FreeBSD for a about 15 years along with Linux and MacOS. I am trying to become more knowledgeable about the system and right now, I'm having trouble tracking down what the different groups are used for... I use wheel as a group for users needing to be able to elevate their privileges to root (meaning me). Other than that, when I hit a snag that requires I belong to a certain group to get a job done, I modify the group to include the user like video for my i915 and cups for printing. But, really, I have no idea what operator, tty, and the other groups are for. man hier explains what the file hierarchy is all about, is there something similar for system users and groups? The handbook's pretty thin in this area and to be honest it all seems kinda kludgy. I feel pretty certain that I could create a group called sweet and use that instead of wheel, or cups, etc... I gather most of it is convention, but that doesn't mean it's undocumented/undocumentable . 

So, is there an explanation for this sorta thing laying around in some dusty corner of the filesystem, or in a well known book, or online post, or am I left to ls -l everything, draw node maps connecting files to processes to groups like some lost dungeon adventurer keeping track of objects, locations, and denizens of the game, all while figuring it out on my own?


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