PAM_MKHOMEDIR

Section: Linux-PAM Manual (8)
Updated: 11/25/2020
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NAME

pam_mkhomedir - PAM module to create users home directory

SYNOPSIS

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

DESCRIPTION

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.

OPTIONS

silent

: Don't print informative messages.

debug

: Turns on debugging via syslog(3).

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.

MODULE TYPES PROVIDED

Only the session module type is provided.

RETURN VALUES

PAM_BUF_ERR

: Memory buffer error.

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.

FILES

/etc/skel

: Default skel directory

EXAMPLES

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

AUTHOR

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