[arch-general] The proper "home" directories for 'no-login' users
Hello, please, consider the following output of part of mine /etc/passwd: $ sudo grep ':/:' /etc/passwd cron:x:22:22::/:/bin/false dbus:x:81:81:System message bus:/:/bin/false hal:x:82:82:HAL daemon:/:/bin/false avahi:x:84:84:Avahi daemon:/:/bin/false nobody:x:99:99:nobody:/:/bin/false dnsmasq:x:999:999:dnsmasq daemon:/:/sbin/nologin usbmux:x:140:140:usbmux user:/:/sbin/nologin These 'users' are not allowed to login: either '/bin/false' or '/sbin/nologin' is used as login shell (another question raises: why two variants? why not just '/bin/false' or '/sbin/nologin'?) but they home directoriy is '/'. I wonder why '/' was chosen for that? Is it possible to change home directories for these 'users' to, say, '/dev/null' or '/nonexistent'? The origin of my question comes from use of 'davfs': when used by normal user (being member of 'network' group) 'mount.davfs' refuse mounting to '/mnt/webdav' because '/' is home directory for some users. I found this 'workaround': http://www.gentoo-wiki.info/WebDAV (sec. "Troubleshooting") so manually changed the home directories for these users to '/dev/null' (I'm not sure is it save or good way). --- WBR, Vladimir Lomov -- The Great Movie Posters: She's got the biggest six-shooters in the West! -- The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend (1949) CAST OF 3,000! 4 WRITERS, 2 DIRECTORS, 3 CAMERAMEN, 3 PRODUCERS! 1 YEAR TO MAKE THIS FILM -- 24 YEARS TO REHEARSE -- 20 YEARS TO DISTRIBUTE! BEAUTIFUL BEYOND WORDS! AWE-INSPIRING! VITAL! THE PRINCE OF PEACE PROVIDES THE ANSWER TO EVERY PROBLEM! Be Brave--bring your troubles and your family to: HISTORY'S MOST SUBLIME EVENT! YOU'LL FIND GOD RIGHT IN THERE! -- The Prince of Peace (1948). Starring members of the Wichita Mountain Pageant featuring Millard Coody as Jesus.
On Tue, Apr 17, 2012 at 4:39 AM, Vladimir Lomov <lomov.vl@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello, please, consider the following output of part of mine /etc/passwd:
$ sudo grep ':/:' /etc/passwd
cron:x:22:22::/:/bin/false dbus:x:81:81:System message bus:/:/bin/false hal:x:82:82:HAL daemon:/:/bin/false avahi:x:84:84:Avahi daemon:/:/bin/false nobody:x:99:99:nobody:/:/bin/false dnsmasq:x:999:999:dnsmasq daemon:/:/sbin/nologin usbmux:x:140:140:usbmux user:/:/sbin/nologin
These 'users' are not allowed to login: either '/bin/false' or '/sbin/nologin' is used as login shell (another question raises: why two variants? why not just '/bin/false' or '/sbin/nologin'?) but they home directoriy is '/'. I wonder why '/' was chosen for that? Is it possible to change home directories for these 'users' to, say, '/dev/null' or '/nonexistent'?
The origin of my question comes from use of 'davfs': when used by normal user (being member of 'network' group) 'mount.davfs' refuse mounting to '/mnt/webdav' because '/' is home directory for some users. I found this 'workaround': http://www.gentoo-wiki.info/WebDAV (sec. "Troubleshooting") so manually changed the home directories for these users to '/dev/null' (I'm not sure is it save or good way).
I don't think it would be any problem to use /dev/null or anything else in there, but it was probably the easiest thing to do (because nobody bothers with writing weird home directory names for those users.
--- WBR, Vladimir Lomov
-- The Great Movie Posters:
She's got the biggest six-shooters in the West! -- The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend (1949)
CAST OF 3,000! 4 WRITERS, 2 DIRECTORS, 3 CAMERAMEN, 3 PRODUCERS! 1 YEAR TO MAKE THIS FILM -- 24 YEARS TO REHEARSE -- 20 YEARS TO DISTRIBUTE! BEAUTIFUL BEYOND WORDS! AWE-INSPIRING! VITAL! THE PRINCE OF PEACE PROVIDES THE ANSWER TO EVERY PROBLEM! Be Brave--bring your troubles and your family to: HISTORY'S MOST SUBLIME EVENT! YOU'LL FIND GOD RIGHT IN THERE! -- The Prince of Peace (1948). Starring members of the Wichita Mountain Pageant featuring Millard Coody as Jesus.
A bit off-topic, but please, and I mean YOU ARE OBLIGATED TO drop it. `fortune -s` and it could be here, but otherwise you don't know what you'll get and you might end up with your signature longer than your actual message. So fix it. -- Kwpolska <http://kwpolska.tk> stop html mail | always bottom-post www.asciiribbon.org | www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html GPG KEY: 5EAAEA16 | Arch Linux x86_64, zsh, mutt, vim. # vim:set textwidth=70:
On Tue, 17 Apr 2012 11:39:46 +0900 Vladimir Lomov wrote:
(another question raises: why two variants? why not just '/bin/false' or '/sbin/nologin'?
Qmail uses true. nologin has some customisable functionality such as displaying a message. It mainly comes down to the source/maintainer.
participants (3)
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Kevin Chadwick
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Kwpolska
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Vladimir Lomov