/etc/skel Tips and Tricks

Using /etc/skel

/etc/skel to ensure that all new users on your system get the same initial settings.

The /etc/skel directory is the directory used by useradd to create the default settings in a new user's home directory.

To change the location of /etc/skel, edit /etc/default/useradd.

Code Listing 7.1

# useradd defaults file
GROUP=100
HOME=/home
INACTIVE=-1
EXPIRE=
SHELL=/bin/bash
SKEL=/etc/skel

Typically files included in /etc/skel are .rc files for shell initialization, but you could also include a public_html directory, a custom dircolors file, or anything else.

Code Listing 7.2

% ls -A /etc/skel
.bash_profile  .bashrc  .maildir  .screenrc  .tcsh.config