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PAM_MKHOMEDIR(8) Linux-PAM Manual PAM_MKHOMEDIR(8)

pam_mkhomedir - PAM module to create users home directory

pam_mkhomedir.so [silent] [umask=mode] [skel=skeldir]

The pam_mkhomedir PAM module will create a users home directory if it does not exist when the session begins. This allows users to be present in central database (such as NIS, kerberos or LDAP) without using a distributed file system or pre-creating a large number of directories. The skeleton directory (usually /etc/skel/) is used to copy default files and also sets a umask for the creation.

The new users home directory will not be removed after logout of the user.

silent

Don't print informative messages.

umask=mask

The user file-creation mask is set to mask. The default value of mask is 0022.

skel=/path/to/skel/directory

Indicate an alternative skel directory to override the default /etc/skel.

Only the session module type is provided.

PAM_BUF_ERR

Memory buffer error.

PAM_CRED_INSUFFICIENT

Insufficient credentials to access authentication data.

PAM_PERM_DENIED

Not enough permissions to create the new directory or read the skel directory.

PAM_USER_UNKNOWN

User not known to the underlying authentication module.

PAM_SUCCESS

Environment variables were set.

/etc/skel

Default skel directory

A sample /etc/pam.d/login file:


auth requisite pam_securetty.so
auth sufficient pam_ldap.so
auth required pam_unix.so
auth required pam_nologin.so
account sufficient pam_ldap.so
account required pam_unix.so
password required pam_unix.so
session required pam_mkhomedir.so skel=/etc/skel/ umask=0022
session required pam_unix.so
session optional pam_lastlog.so
session optional pam_mail.so standard

pam.d(5), pam(7).

pam_mkhomedir was written by Jason Gunthorpe <jgg@debian.org>.

05/18/2017 Linux-PAM Manual