#472820 adduser: Need override when home directory exists

Package:
adduser
Source:
adduser
Submitter:
"Jeff Hanson"
Date:
2026-06-17 21:09:05 UTC
Severity:
wishlist
Tags:
#472820#5
Date:
2008-03-26 16:58:37 UTC
From:
To:
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.
#472820#10
Date:
2011-11-23 11:09:48 UTC
From:
To:
Valid point. I will accept a patch.

Greetings
Marc
#472820#13
Date:
2011-11-23 11:09:48 UTC
From:
To:
Valid point. I will accept a patch.

Greetings
Marc
#472820#18
Date:
2011-11-23 17:17:35 UTC
From:
To:
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@zugschlus.de> wrote:
#472820#21
Date:
2011-11-23 17:17:35 UTC
From:
To:
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@zugschlus.de> wrote:
#472820#30
Date:
2026-06-17 21:06:33 UTC
From:
To:
We believe that the bug you reported is fixed in the latest version of
adduser, which is due to be installed in the Debian FTP archive.

A summary of the changes between this version and the previous one is
attached.

Thank you for reporting the bug, which will now be closed.  If you
have further comments please address them to 472820@bugs.debian.org,
and the maintainer will reopen the bug report if appropriate.

Debian distribution maintenance software
pp.
Marc Haber <mh+debian-packages@zugschlus.de> (supplier of updated adduser package)

(This message was generated automatically at their request; if you
believe that there is a problem with it please contact the archive
administrators by mailing ftpmaster@ftp-master.debian.org)
Format: 1.8
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2026 22:36:50 +0200
Source: adduser
Architecture: source
Version: 3.157
Distribution: unstable
Urgency: medium
Maintainer: Debian Adduser Developers <adduser@packages.debian.org>
Changed-By: Marc Haber <mh+debian-packages@zugschlus.de>
Closes: 472820 1101457 1103776 1118210 1133696 1137602 1137603
Changes:
 adduser (3.157) unstable; urgency=medium
 .
   [ Marc Haber ]
   * add script that runs the testsuite without autopkgtest
     (Closes: #1101457)
   * add a NOTE to adduser.8 regarding group membership (Closes: #1103776)
   * implement adduser --force-home.
     Thanks to Jeff Hanson (Closes: #472820)
   * Add new Romanian program and man page translation.
     Thanks to Remus-Gabriel Chelu (Closes: #1137603, #1137602)
   * update dutch program translation.
     Thanks to Frans Spiesschaert (Closes: #1118210, #1133696)
 .
   [ Dustin Kirkland ]
   * Add support for encrypting home directories
     * adduser: Add --encrypt-home option, which calls ecryptfs-setup-private
       for the hard work.
     * doc/adduser.8: document the --encrypt-home option
     * debian/control: suggest ecryptfs-utils >= 67-1
     * deluser: remove all of /var/lib/ecryptfs/$user with --remove-home
 .
   [ Mateus Rodrigues de Morais ]
   * Add encrypted home tests with isolation-machine restriction
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 c1dca503370a1be803518247a2a27f85b0fcb114 361112 adduser_3.157.tar.xz
Checksums-Sha256:
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Files:
 5393614c69f578219ca8e41bc8da9db9 1811 admin important adduser_3.157.dsc
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