+# return a list of all users on the system
+list_users() {
+ if type getent &>/dev/null ; then
+ # for linux and FreeBSD systems
+ getent passwd | cut -d: -f1
+ elif type dscl &>/dev/null ; then
+ # for Darwin systems
+ dscl localhost -list /Search/Users
+ else
+ failure "Neither getent or dscl is in the path! Could not determine list of users."
+ fi
+}
+
+# return the path to the home directory of a user
+get_homedir() {
+ local uname=${1:-`whoami`}
+ eval "echo ~${uname}"
+}
+
+# return the primary group of a user
+get_primary_group() {
+ local uname=${1:-`whoami`}
+ groups "$uname" | sed 's/^..* : //' | awk '{ print $1 }'
+}
+