# remote\_user

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/remote-user/13500>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [September 18, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/remote-user/13500 "2013-09-18T16:03:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Laurent\_CREPET1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5fc32e/32.png) [@Laurent\_CREPET1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Laurent_CREPET1)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/remote-user/13500/1 "2013-09-18T16:03:44Z")

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Hi,

I’m new to Ansible.

I’ve started by reading:  
[http://ansibleworks.com/docs/playbooks.html](http://ansibleworks.com/docs/playbooks.html)

This page says:

" The remote\_user parameter was formerly called just user. It was renamed in Ansible 1.4 to make it more distinguishable from the user module (used to create users on remote systems). "

I’ve then read the following page:  
[http://www.ansibleworks.com/docs/playbooks2.html](http://www.ansibleworks.com/docs/playbooks2.html)

In the section named “Loops”, examples for creating users are using “remote\_user” instead of “user” (the user module).

It’s a mistake, right ?

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**Author:** ![James\_Cammarata1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@James\_Cammarata1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/James_Cammarata1)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/remote-user/13500/2 "2013-09-18T17:03:22Z")

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No, the documents are typically updated to reflect the state of the development branch, as many people use ansible directly from a git checkout. As the note in the first page of the playbooks documentation notes, the parameter is named “user:” if you are using 1.3.x or before.

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**Author:** ![Serge\_van\_Ginderacht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@Serge\_van\_Ginderacht](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Serge_van_Ginderacht)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 5:19pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/remote-user/13500/3 "2013-09-18T17:19:35Z")

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I think Laurent is right, the playbooks2 page mentions this example:

```auto
- name: add several users
  remote_user: name={{ item }} state=present groups=wheel
  with_items:
     - testuser1
     - testuser2

```

“remote\_user” is used here as the module name, but should be “user”

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![James\_Cammarata1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@James\_Cammarata1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/James_Cammarata1)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 5:21pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/remote-user/13500/4 "2013-09-18T17:21:04Z")

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Ahh, I see, yes that is incorrect. I’ll get that fixed ASAP. Thanks!

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**Author:** ![James\_Cammarata1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@James\_Cammarata1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/James_Cammarata1)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/remote-user/13500/5 "2013-09-18T17:24:56Z")

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The docs have been updated, thanks for catching that!