bug#21108: Home directory not created for new users

bug#21108: Home directory not created for new users

[Andy Patterson]

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Following up on the thread from guix-devel:
<https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2015-07/msg00554.html>

On 0.8.3-pre, after a clean install, users listed in the system
configuration file do not have a home directory automatically created
for them in some circumstances. This causes the user to be initially
unable to login. Specifically, with a separately mounted home folder,
the folder may not be created. I note that when un-mounting /home, the
expected folder does appear.

[-- Attachment #2: config.scm --]
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;; This is an operating system configuration template
;; for a "desktop" setup with X11.

(use-modules (gnu) (gnu system nss))
(use-service-modules desktop)
(use-package-modules xfce ratpoison wicd avahi xorg certs)

(operating-system
  (host-name "antelope")
  (timezone "Europe/Paris")
  (locale "en_US.UTF-8")

  ;; Assuming /dev/sdX is the target hard disk, and "root" is
  ;; the label of the target root file system.
  (bootloader (grub-configuration (device "/dev/sda")))
  (file-systems (cons* (file-system
                        (device "rootfs")
                        (title 'label)
                        (mount-point "/")
                        (type "ext4"))

                       (file-system
                        (device "boot")
                        (title 'label)
                        (mount-point "/boot")
                        (type "ext2"))

                       (file-system
                        (device "homefs")
                        (title 'label)
                        (mount-point "/home")
                        (type "ext4"))
                       
                      %base-file-systems))

  (users (cons (user-account
                (name "bob")
                (comment "Alice's brother")
                (group "users")
                (supplementary-groups '("wheel" "netdev"
                                        "audio" "video"))
                (home-directory "/home/bob"))
               %base-user-accounts))

  ;; Add Xfce and Ratpoison; that allows us to choose
  ;; sessions using either of these at the log-in screen.
  (packages (cons* xfce ratpoison    ;desktop environments
                   xterm wicd avahi  ;useful tools
                   nss-certs         ;for HTTPS access
                   %base-packages))

  ;; Use the "desktop" services, which include the X11
  ;; log-in service, networking with Wicd, and more.
  (services %desktop-services)

  ;; Allow resolution of '.local' host names with mDNS.
  (name-service-switch %mdns-host-lookup-nss))

bug#21108: Home directory not created for new users

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hello,

Andy Patterson <ajpatter@uwaterloo.ca> skribis:

> Following up on the thread from guix-devel:
> <https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2015-07/msg00554.html>
>
> On 0.8.3-pre, after a clean install, users listed in the system
> configuration file do not have a home directory automatically created
> for them in some circumstances. This causes the user to be initially
> unable to login. Specifically, with a separately mounted home folder,
> the folder may not be created. I note that when un-mounting /home, the
> expected folder does appear.

I’m happy to report that this is finally fixed, in commit
ae763b5b0b7d5e7316a3d0efe991fe8ab2261031.

From now on, home directories of non-system users are created when the
‘file-systems’ Shepherd service is up, i.e., when all the file systems
have been mounted.

Let me know if you spot anything wrong!

Ludo’.