LPIC-1 Administrative Tasks Practice Question
Which command adds a new group named 'developers' to the system?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse `groupadd` with distribution-specific wrappers like `addgroup` (Debian/Ubuntu) or think that `newgroup` is a valid command, or they may overlook the significance of the `-r` flag which creates a system group instead of a regular group.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
groupadd developers
The correct command to add a new group on a Linux system is `groupadd developers`. This command creates a new group entry in the system's group database (typically /etc/group). The `groupadd` utility is the standard tool for this task in Linux, and it is part of the shadow-utils package.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
addgroup developers
Why it's wrong here
On Debian-based systems addgroup creates groups, but the question targets the portable command available across distributions; addgroup is a Debian wrapper, not the standard utility. It is tempting because it works on Ubuntu, yet groupadd is the correct cross-distribution command.
- ✓
groupadd developers
Why this is correct
groupadd creates a new group entry in /etc/group with the specified name, so 'groupadd developers' adds the developers group. It does not assign users or set passwords, which require separate commands such as usermod or gpasswd.
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newgroup developers
Why it's wrong here
No such command exists; group creation uses groupadd, which writes the entry to /etc/group. The name newgroup is a tempting guess because it mirrors useradd's naming logic, but it is not shipped by shadow-utils. It would be correct only if a custom wrapper script named newgroup had been installed.
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groupadd -r developers
Why it's wrong here
The -r flag creates a system group with a GID below 1000, reserved for system accounts, not ordinary user groups. It is tempting because groupadd -r does add a group, but 'developers' is a standard user group requiring the plain groupadd developers form.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This LPIC-1 practice question is part of Courseiva's free LPI certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the LPIC-1 exam.