nobody
A Linux system account: what it is, and which numbers it holds.
What this account is
Intended for processes that should own nothing, so a correctly configured system has no files owned by it. NFS servers using root-squashing usually map an incoming client root to this account, though which anonymous identity they use is configurable. The two distributions disagree about what the group at 65534 is called: Debian names it nogroup, pairing it with the user at the same number, while Alpine names it nobody and puts nogroup at 65533 instead.
Source: base-passwd 3.6.8 (passwd, group); alpine-baselayout passwd and group, aports. Read 2026-08-08.
Sources
| Distribution | Source package | Package version | Commit | Read from source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debian | base-passwd | 3.6.8 | a080557e1d59 | 2026-08-07 |
| Alpine Linux | alpine-baselayout | 3.7.2 | a9c597c5cee0 | 2026-08-07 |