diff --git a/debian/cephadm.postinst b/debian/cephadm.postinst
index 53d503e1eaa0a..090677ad992ee 100644
--- a/debian/cephadm.postinst
+++ b/debian/cephadm.postinst
@@ -25,7 +25,11 @@ case "$1" in
        # 1. create user if not existing
        if ! getent passwd | grep -q "^cephadm:"; then
          echo -n "Adding system user cephadm.."
-         adduser --quiet --system --disabled-password --gecos 'cephadm user for mgr/cephadm' --shell /bin/bash cephadm 2>/dev/null || true
+         adduser --quiet \
+                 --system \
+                 --disabled-password \
+                 --gecos 'cephadm user for mgr/cephadm' \
+                 --shell /bin/bash cephadm 2>/dev/null || true
          echo "..done"
        fi