Default permissions on $HOME

Message

JSharku · Post by **JSharku** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 8:12 am

This is more of a general linux question, but since I only use gentoo, I might as well ask it here. I seem to remember that there was some sort of option in Redhat where you could set the default permissions of the directory created with "useradd -m" kind of like umask but for use with useradd only. Right now if I use "useradd -m" the default permissions on that dir are 755 which I'd like to change to 700 if at all possible. I know I can always chmod afterwards, but I'd like to make it standard in case I forget. Any ideas?

Sharku

stim · Post by **stim** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 8:30 am

I don't know if this would work, but you could try changing the default permissions of the /etc/skel directory. A copy of which is used by default for the home directory of the new user.

fuoco · Post by **fuoco** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 8:48 am

First thing when you have a question like that is to read the manpage. There's a whole section in useradd's manpage about default values and how to set them. I haven't seen anything about permissions there though. There's /etc/skel which is the default skeleton for a newly created HOME dir - maybe it's permissions are affecting the useradd -m option. Otherwise you could look in /etc/default/useradd which is the config file for it - and maybe you'll find something interesting there.

Next thing is to google around - there's so many similar questions on the web. Probably even in these forums - I haven't bothered to look though.

JSharku · Post by **JSharku** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 9:37 am

Should've mentioned it, but yes I did read the man page and I did try changing permissions on /etc/skel (no effect) before asking here. The things in /etc/default/useradd are the same things you can set with "useradd -D" but no permissions. As for searching this forum, I did try that; but I didn't find anything relevant. In other words, please don't tell me to read the man info page/search the forum, as that is always my first step.

Sharku

L29Ah · Post by **L29Ah** » Fri May 09, 2025 1:27 pm

Editing "UMASK" in /etc/login.defs will change the rights when creating home folders.

Alverstone · Post by **Alverstone** » Sun May 11, 2025 8:58 am

L29Ah wrote:Editing "UMASK" in /etc/login.defs will change the rights when creating home folders.

Or HOME_MODE.

Post by Hu » Sun May 11, 2025 2:08 pm

Were UMASK and HOME_MODE available when this thread was posted almost 20 years ago? Back then, fuoco checked the manual page for useradd, and didn't find anything. Looking at the manual page today, I see both those options documented in a way that fuoco probably would have found them, so they may not have existed back then. JSharku also checked the manual back then, and found nothing.

Alverstone · Post by **Alverstone** » Wed May 14, 2025 1:00 pm

Hu wrote:Were UMASK and HOME_MODE available when this thread was posted almost 20 years ago? Back then, fuoco checked the manual page for useradd, and didn't find anything. Looking at the manual page today, I see both those options documented in a way that fuoco probably would have found them, so they may not have existed back then. JSharku also checked the manual back then, and found nothing.

Would never reply if I noticed the thread is 20 years old.