Deleting unnecessary users

[BigLinux]

I would like to find unnecessary users from /etc/passwd .
I need to find out what function do these accounts accomplish & whether their deletion will cause any problems to my system.
I found:

man, proxy, telnetd, backup.

Please let me know the purpose of man, proxy, telnetd, backup and if I can safely delete them. Thanks

[Jordan]

I don't know what their specific purpose is, but if they are default users from installation they have a system purpose/function. If you remove them, those function may not work (such as reading man pages). What does it look like in your passwd file? Similar to this?

man:x:6:100:man:/var/cache/man:/bin/false

The last segment there, /bin/false, is the shell path. When set to /bin/false it means they cannot login so you have no security risk from that perspective.

[BigLinux]

Yes it looks exactly like that, so since it does not compromise security you think it's better I leave it that way?

[Jordan]

IMO, yes. I wouldn't remove any system default user accounts.

[BigLinux]

Thanks for your help.. I guess they will just stay there then.

[TcM]

I think as long as it does not affect your system... why delete them and end up screwing something up.. and it ends up with some format...

[BigLinux]

Yeah.. probably you are right

[relapse]

If you don't use those services, you should be able to delete those users.