Adduser devel - Mar 2008 - Bug#472820: adduser: Need override when home directory exists

Package: adduser
Version: 3.103ubuntu1
Severity: wishlist

Ubuntu bug #178616
When a new user is added and the default home directory for the username
already exists, adduser issues a warning and refuses to touch it. This
is desirable to prevent unintentional damage from copying skel and
setting uid/gid. But when a home directory has to be created beforehand
and the admin wants adduser to copy skel and set uid/gid, there is no
way to override the default behavior. This situation arises when the
user''s home directory is an individual mount on a md, lvm, or dm-crypt
device. The device must be mounted first so skel is copied to the
correct target but the uid/gid can''t be set correctly because the
user/group doesn''t exist yet.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: lenny/sid
  APT prefers gutsy-updates
  APT policy: (500, ''gutsy-updates''), (500,
''gutsy-security''), (500,
''gutsy-backports''), (500, ''gutsy'')
Architecture: i386 (i686)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.22-14-generic (SMP w/1 CPU core)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash

Versions of packages adduser depends on:
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]   1.5.14ubuntu1    Debian configuration management sy
ii  passwd                  1:4.0.18.1-9     change and administer password and
ii  perl-base               5.8.8-7ubuntu3.1 The Pathologically Eclectic Rubbis

adduser recommends no packages.

-- debconf information:
  adduser/homedir-permission: true

On Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 12:58:37PM -0400, Jeff Hanson
wrote:
> This situation arises when the
> user''s home directory is an individual mount on a md, lvm, or
dm-crypt
> device. The device must be mounted first so skel is copied to the
> correct target but the uid/gid can''t be set correctly because the
> user/group doesn''t exist yet.
Valid point. I will accept a patch.

Greetings
Marc

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marc Haber         | "I don''t trust Computers. They | Mailadresse
im Header
Mannheim, Germany  |  lose things."    Winona Ryder | Fon: *49 621 31958061
Nordisch by Nature |  How to make an American Quilt | Fax: *49 621 31958062

I haven''t had time in the last three years to learn Perl yet but
it''s
on my list.

On Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 6:09 AM, Marc Haber
<mh+debian-packages at zugschlus.de> wrote:
>
> On Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 12:58:37PM -0400, Jeff Hanson wrote:
>> This situation arises when the
>> user''s home directory is an individual mount on a md, lvm, or
dm-crypt
>> device. The device must be mounted first so skel is copied to the
>> correct target but the uid/gid can''t be set correctly because
the
>> user/group doesn''t exist yet.
>
> Valid point. I will accept a patch.
>
> Greetings
> Marc
>
> --
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Marc Haber ? ? ? ? | "I don''t trust Computers. They |
Mailadresse im Header
> Mannheim, Germany ?| ?lose things." ? ?Winona Ryder | Fon: *49 621
31958061
> Nordisch by Nature | ?How to make an American Quilt | Fax: *49 621 31958062
>