On Fri, 2006-11-24 at 09:30 -0600, Mikkel L. Ellertson wrote: > Joachim Backes wrote: > > Mattia Gandolfi wrote: > >> arora.himanshu@xxxxxxxxx wrote: > >>> Hi, > >>> I want to change my home directory from /home/me to > >>> /tmp/me without getting root involved. It also means that whether I > >>> do ssh or scp or ftp or telnet it should see my home directory as > >>> /tmp/me. Any suggestions ? > >>> > >>> Thanks, > >>> > >> > >> usermod -dm /tmp/me <your_username> > > > > You are sure? The manpage says: > > > > CAVEATS > > usermod will not allow you to change the name of a user who is > > logged in. > > > > How to do it without logging in (as root or user)? > > > > > That only applies if you are changing the name, not if you are using > the other options. For example, if you were changing the name of the > user who has the user number (UID) 513 from joe to frank, then you > can not do it if joe is logged in. On the other hand, you need root > permissions to change the home directory this way, so it will not do > what you are after. Users are not supposed to be able to change > their home directory. > > Mikkel > -- > > Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, > for thou art crunchy and taste good with Ketchup! > Hello, Mattia, /tmp is a temporary directory. The intent is that to clean up temp files one can purge this directory of his own files with impunity. In fact, some programs for development do this routinely for files they create. Putting your home directory in /tmp will place it at great risk. In addition, most backup utilities default setup will not preserve /tmp contents because they are considered transitory and not pertinent to the system for restoration. Placing your home directory in /tmp will confuse such backups and your backup size may grow without limits because many backup utilities utilize /tmp for the tempory compression or utility temporary during the backup process. Therefore that directory would change during the backup process, and could end up with a non-terminated loop. You are much better off using /home for all user directories. Generally the administrator accound uses "/" as its default direcotry, but I think one is wise to change that to /home as well. When working in Linux or most operating systems other than Microsoft, remember that the directories are indeed like a good office filing system. Each "folder" (directory) has a predetermined use. Overriding that will interfere with some of the standards of conduct that make the system work well. Regards, Les H
