Adding New User but Home Directory Already Exists

[jmadero]

Hi All,

I'm trying to add a user which I previously had on there but when I did a fresh install of Jaunty it only allowed me to enter one user which then took my main home directory and set it up as my new home directory.

My other user that I have on the account already has all the config files set up and such in their home directory but when I try to add the user again it says I can't because I need to have a new home directory not one that already exists. Any way to fix this? Thanks all

[hazel]

I think if you went back to basics and did it with useradd, it would work. Here's what I found in the useradd man page:

-d, --home HOME_DIR
           The new user will be created using HOME_DIR as the value for the
           user´s login directory. The default is to append the LOGIN name to
           BASE_DIR and use that as the login directory name. The directory
           HOME_DIR does not have to exist but will not be created if it is
           missing. 
    -M
           Do not create the user´s home directory, even if the system wide
           setting from /etc/login.defs (CREATE_HOME) is set to yes.

[jmadero]

worked like a charm. Thanks! should I report this as a bug in launchpad?

[MikeTbob]

I don't think so because it isn't really a bug. You already had a /home/user partition but failed to take this into account, no biggie but I just don't think it's a bug.

[jmadero]

the reason I think it might be a bug is because in my situation I have my /home on it's own partition. When you do a fresh install of Ubuntu on the "your name and username" page it only allows you to enter one name/user name. If the folder already exists in the /home partition then it'll use that no problem.

The issue is when you have multiple users you can't just easily "bring them in" to the fresh install. It appears like the only way to do this is through command prompt, I don't see why the GUI shouldn't just give a message saying "are you sure you want to use the already created folder" or something like that instead of flatly denying access.

What do you think?

[D-cat]

I still don't think "bug" is appropriate, the application is working as designed. It should be submitted as a "Feature Request" to the gui app developer. That being said, I have no idea who to send that to.

[jmadero]

maybe I'll add it as a wish list in launchpad, I've done that a few times for different apps....?

[MikeTbob]

Wish list sounds good, even though I am not sure what it is. Who knows, maybe it'll get picked up.