2 <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC
"-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
3 "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd">
4 <!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later -->
6 <refentry id=
"homectl" conditional='ENABLE_HOMED'
7 xmlns:
xi=
"http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude">
10 <title>homectl
</title>
11 <productname>systemd
</productname>
15 <refentrytitle>homectl
</refentrytitle>
16 <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
20 <refname>homectl
</refname>
21 <refname>systemd-homed-firstboot.service
</refname>
22 <refpurpose>Create, remove, change or inspect home directories
</refpurpose>
27 <command>homectl
</command>
28 <arg choice=
"opt" rep=
"repeat">OPTIONS
</arg>
29 <arg choice=
"req">COMMAND
</arg>
30 <arg choice=
"opt" rep=
"repeat">NAME
</arg>
35 <title>Description
</title>
37 <para><command>homectl
</command> may be used to create, remove, change or inspect a user's home
38 directory. It's primarily a command interfacing with
39 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-homed.service
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
40 which manages home directories of users.
</para>
42 <para>Home directories managed by
<filename>systemd-homed.service
</filename> are self-contained, and thus
43 include the user's full metadata record in the home's data storage itself, making them easy to migrate
44 between machines. In particular, a home directory describes a matching user record, and every user record
45 managed by
<filename>systemd-homed.service
</filename> also implies existence and encapsulation of a home
46 directory. The user account and home directory become the same concept.
</para>
48 <para>The following backing storage mechanisms are supported:
</para>
51 <listitem><para>An individual LUKS2 encrypted loopback file for a user, stored in
52 <filename>/home/*.home
</filename>. At login the file system contained in this files is mounted, after
53 the LUKS2 encrypted volume has been attached. The user's password is identical to the encryption
54 passphrase of the LUKS2 volume. Access to data without preceding user authentication is thus not
55 possible, even for the system administrator. This storage mechanism provides the strongest data
56 security and is thus recommended.
</para></listitem>
58 <listitem><para>Similar, but the LUKS2 encrypted file system is located on regular block device, such
59 as a USB storage stick. In this mode home directories and all data they include are nicely migratable
60 between machines, simply by plugging the USB stick into different systems at different
61 times.
</para></listitem>
63 <listitem><para>An encrypted directory using
<literal>fscrypt
</literal> on file systems that support it
64 (at the moment this is primarily
<literal>ext4
</literal>), located in
65 <filename>/home/*.homedir
</filename>. This mechanism also provides encryption, but substantially
66 weaker than LUKS2, as most file system metadata is unprotected. Moreover
67 it currently does not support changing user passwords once the home directory has been
68 created.
</para></listitem>
70 <listitem><para>A
<literal>btrfs
</literal> subvolume for each user, also located in
71 <filename>/home/*.homedir
</filename>. This provides no encryption, but good quota
72 support.
</para></listitem>
74 <listitem><para>A regular directory for each user, also located in
75 <filename>/home/*.homedir
</filename>. This provides no encryption, but is a suitable fallback
76 available on all machines, even where LUKS2,
<literal>fscrypt
</literal> or
<literal>btrfs
</literal>
77 support is not available.
</para></listitem>
79 <listitem><para>An individual Windows file share (CIFS) for each user.
</para></listitem>
82 <para>Note that
<filename>systemd-homed.service
</filename> and
<command>homectl
</command> will not manage
83 "classic" UNIX user accounts as created with
<citerefentry
84 project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>useradd
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry> or
85 similar tools. In particular, this functionality is not suitable for managing system users (i.e. users
86 with a UID below
1000) but is exclusive to regular (
"human") users.
</para>
88 <para>Note that users/home directories managed via
<command>systemd-homed.service
</command> do not show
89 up in
<filename>/etc/passwd
</filename> and similar files, they are synthesized via glibc NSS during
90 runtime. They are thus resolvable and may be enumerated via the
<citerefentry
91 project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>getent
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
94 <para>This tool interfaces directly with
<filename>systemd-homed.service
</filename>, and may execute
95 specific commands on the home directories it manages. Since every home directory managed that way also
96 defines a JSON user and group record these home directories may also be inspected and enumerated via
97 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>userdbctl
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
</para>
99 <para>Home directories managed by
<filename>systemd-homed.service
</filename> are usually in one of two
100 states, or in a transition state between them: when
<literal>active
</literal> they are unlocked and
101 mounted, and thus accessible to the system and its programs; when
<literal>inactive
</literal> they are
102 not mounted and thus not accessible. Activation happens automatically at login of the user and usually
103 can only complete after a password (or other authentication token) has been supplied. Deactivation
104 happens after the user fully logged out. A home directory remains active as long as the user is logged in
105 at least once, i.e. has at least one login session. When the user logs in a second time simultaneously
106 the home directory remains active. It is deactivated only after the last of the user's sessions
111 <title>Options
</title>
113 <para>The following general options are understood (further options that control the various properties
114 of user records managed by
<filename>systemd-homed.service
</filename> are documented further
120 <term><option>--identity=
<replaceable>FILE
</replaceable></option></term>
122 <listitem><para>Read the user's JSON record from the specified file. If passed as
123 <literal>-
</literal> read the user record from standard input. The supplied JSON object must follow
124 the structure documented in
<ulink url=
"https://systemd.io/USER_RECORD">JSON User Records
</ulink>.
125 This option may be used in conjunction with the
<command>create
</command> and
126 <command>update
</command> commands (see below), where it allows configuring the user record in JSON
127 as-is, instead of setting the individual user record properties (see below).
</para>
129 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
133 <term><option>--json=
<replaceable>FORMAT
</replaceable></option></term>
134 <term><option>-j
</option></term>
136 <listitem><para>Controls whether to output the user record in JSON format, if the
137 <command>inspect
</command> command (see below) is used. Takes one of
<literal>pretty
</literal>,
138 <literal>short
</literal> or
<literal>off
</literal>. If
<literal>pretty
</literal> human-friendly
139 whitespace and newlines are inserted in the output to make the JSON data more readable. If
140 <literal>short
</literal> all superfluous whitespace is suppressed. If
<literal>off
</literal> (the
141 default) the user information is not shown in JSON format but in a friendly human readable formatting
142 instead. The
<option>-j
</option> option picks
<literal>pretty
</literal> when run interactively and
143 <literal>short
</literal> otherwise.
</para>
145 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
149 <term><option>--export-format=
<replaceable>FORMAT
</replaceable></option></term>
150 <term><option>-E
</option></term>
151 <term><option>-EE
</option></term>
153 <listitem><para>When used with the
<command>inspect
</command> verb in JSON mode (see above) may be
154 used to suppress certain aspects of the JSON user record on output. Specifically, if
155 <literal>stripped
</literal> format is used the binding and runtime fields of the record are
156 removed. If
<literal>minimal
</literal> format is used the cryptographic signature is removed too. If
157 <literal>full
</literal> format is used the full JSON record is shown (this is the default). This
158 option is useful for copying an existing user record to a different system in order to create a
159 similar user there with the same settings. Specifically:
<command>homectl inspect -EE | ssh
160 root@othersystem homectl create -i-
</command> may be used as simple command line for replicating a
161 user on another host.
<option>-E
</option> is equivalent to
<option>-j --export-format=stripped
</option>,
162 <option>-EE
</option> to
<option>-j --export-format=minimal
</option>. Note that when replicating user
163 accounts user records acquired in
<literal>stripped
</literal> mode will retain the original
164 cryptographic signatures and thus may only be modified when the private key to update them is available
165 on the destination machine. When replicating users in
<literal>minimal
</literal> mode, the signature
166 is removed during the replication and thus the record will be implicitly signed with the key of the destination
167 machine and may be updated there without any private key replication.
</para>
169 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
173 <term><option>--offline
</option></term>
175 <listitem><para>Do not attempt to update the copy of the user record and blob directory that is embedded inside
176 of the home area. This allows for operation on home areas that are absent, or without needing to authenticate as
177 the user being modified.
</para>
179 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v256"/></listitem>
182 <xi:include href=
"user-system-options.xml" xpointer=
"host" />
183 <xi:include href=
"user-system-options.xml" xpointer=
"machine" />
185 <xi:include href=
"standard-options.xml" xpointer=
"no-pager" />
186 <xi:include href=
"standard-options.xml" xpointer=
"no-legend" />
187 <xi:include href=
"standard-options.xml" xpointer=
"no-ask-password" />
188 <xi:include href=
"standard-options.xml" xpointer=
"help" />
189 <xi:include href=
"standard-options.xml" xpointer=
"version" />
194 <title>User Record Properties
</title>
196 <para>The following options control various properties of the user records/home directories that
197 <filename>systemd-homed.service
</filename> manages. These switches may be used in conjunction with the
198 <command>create
</command> and
<command>update
</command> commands for configuring various aspects of the
199 home directory and the user account:
</para>
204 <term><option>--real-name=
<replaceable>NAME
</replaceable></option></term>
205 <term><option>-c
</option> <replaceable>NAME
</replaceable></term>
207 <listitem><para>The real name for the user. This corresponds with the GECOS field on classic UNIX NSS
210 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
214 <term><option>--realm=
<replaceable>REALM
</replaceable></option></term>
216 <listitem><para>The realm for the user. The realm associates a user with a specific organization or
217 installation, and allows distinguishing users of the same name defined in different contexts. The
218 realm can be any string that also qualifies as valid DNS domain name, and it is recommended to use
219 the organization's or installation's domain name for this purpose, but this is not enforced nor
220 required. On each system only a single user of the same name may exist, and if a user with the same
221 name and realm is seen it is assumed to refer to the same user while a user with the same name but
222 different realm is considered a different user. Note that this means that two users sharing the same
223 name but with distinct realms are not allowed on the same system. Assigning a realm to a user is
226 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
230 <term><option>--email-address=
<replaceable>EMAIL
</replaceable></option></term>
232 <listitem><para>Takes an electronic mail address to associate with the user. On log-in the
233 <varname>$EMAIL
</varname> environment variable is initialized from this value.
</para>
235 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
239 <term><option>--location=
<replaceable>TEXT
</replaceable></option></term>
241 <listitem><para>Takes location specification for this user. This is free-form text, which might or
242 might not be usable by geo-location applications. Example:
<option>--location=
"Berlin,
243 Germany"</option> or
<option>--location=
"Basement, Room 3a"</option></para>
245 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
249 <term><option>--icon-name=
<replaceable>ICON
</replaceable></option></term>
251 <listitem><para>Takes an icon name to associate with the user, following the scheme defined by the
<ulink
252 url=
"https://standards.freedesktop.org/icon-naming-spec/icon-naming-spec-latest.html">Icon Naming
253 Specification
</ulink>.
</para>
255 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
259 <term><option>--home-dir=
<replaceable>PATH
</replaceable></option></term>
260 <term><option>-d
<replaceable>PATH
</replaceable></option></term>
262 <listitem><para>Takes a path to use as home directory for the user. Note that this is the directory
263 the user's home directory is mounted to while the user is logged in. This is not where the user's
264 data is actually stored, see
<option>--image-path=
</option> for that. If not specified defaults to
265 <filename>/home/$USER
</filename>.
</para>
267 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
271 <term><option>--uid=
<replaceable>UID
</replaceable></option></term>
273 <listitem><para>Takes a preferred numeric UNIX UID to assign this user. If a user is to be created
274 with the specified UID and it is already taken by a different user on the local system then creation
275 of the home directory is refused. Note though, if after creating the home directory it is used on a
276 different system and the configured UID is taken by another user there, then
277 <command>systemd-homed
</command> may assign the user a different UID on that system. The specified
278 UID must be outside of the system user range. It is recommended to use the
60001…
60513 UID range for
279 this purpose. If not specified, the UID is automatically picked. If the home directory is found to be
280 owned by a different UID when logging in, the home directory and everything underneath it will have
281 its ownership changed automatically before login completes.
</para>
283 <para>Note that changing this option for existing home directories generally has no effect on home
284 directories that already have been registered locally (have a local
<emphasis>binding
</emphasis>), as
285 the UID used for an account on the local system is determined when the home directory is first
286 activated on it, and then remains in effect until the home directory is removed.
</para>
288 <para>Note that users managed by
<command>systemd-homed
</command> always have a matching group
289 associated with the same name as well as a GID matching the UID of the user. Thus, configuring the
290 GID separately is not permitted.
</para>
292 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
296 <term><option>--member-of=
<replaceable>GROUP
</replaceable></option></term>
297 <term><option>-G
</option> <replaceable>GROUP
</replaceable></term>
299 <listitem><para>Takes a comma-separated list of auxiliary UNIX groups this user shall belong
300 to. Example:
<option>--member-of=wheel
</option> to provide the user with administrator
301 privileges. Note that
<command>systemd-homed
</command> does not manage any groups besides a group
302 matching the user in name and numeric UID/GID. Thus any groups listed here must be registered
303 independently, for example with
<citerefentry
304 project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>groupadd
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
305 Any non-existent groups are ignored. This option may be used more than once, in which case all
306 specified group lists are combined. If the user is currently a member of a group which is not listed,
307 the user will be removed from the group.
</para>
309 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
313 <term><option>--capability-bounding-set=
<replaceable>CAPABILITIES
</replaceable></option></term>
314 <term><option>--capability-ambient-set=
<replaceable>CAPABILITIES
</replaceable></option></term>
316 <listitem><para>These options take a space separated list of process capabilities
317 (e.g.
<constant>CAP_WAKE_ALARM
</constant>,
<constant>CAP_BLOCK_SUSPEND
</constant>, …) that shall be
318 set in the capability bounding and ambient sets for all the user's sessions. See
<citerefentry
319 project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>capabilities
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>
320 for details on the capabilities concept. These options may be used more than once, in which case the
321 specified lists are combined. If the parameter begins with a
<literal>~
</literal> character the
322 effect is inverted: the specified capability is dropped from the specific set.
</para>
324 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v254"/></listitem>
328 <term><option>--skel=
<replaceable>PATH
</replaceable></option></term>
330 <listitem><para>Takes a file system path to a directory. Specifies the skeleton directory to
331 initialize the home directory with. All files and directories in the specified path are copied into
332 any newly create home directory. If not specified defaults to
<filename>/etc/skel/
</filename>.
335 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
339 <term><option>--shell=
<replaceable>SHELL
</replaceable></option></term>
341 <listitem><para>Takes a file system path. Specifies the shell binary to execute on terminal
342 logins. If not specified defaults to
<filename>/bin/bash
</filename>.
</para>
344 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
348 <term><option>--setenv=
<replaceable>VARIABLE
</replaceable>[=
<replaceable>VALUE
</replaceable>]
</option></term>
350 <listitem><para>Takes an environment variable assignment to set for all user processes. May be used
351 multiple times to set multiple environment variables. When
<literal>=
</literal> and
352 <replaceable>VALUE
</replaceable> are omitted, the value of the variable with the same name in the
353 program environment will be used.
</para>
355 <para>Note that a number of other settings also result in environment variables to be set for the
356 user, including
<option>--email=
</option>,
<option>--timezone=
</option> and
357 <option>--language=
</option>.
</para>
359 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
363 <term><option>--timezone=
<replaceable>TIMEZONE
</replaceable></option></term>
365 <listitem><para>Takes a time zone location name that sets the timezone for the specified user. When
366 the user logs in the
<varname>$TZ
</varname> environment variable is initialized from this
367 setting. Example:
<option>--timezone=Europe/Amsterdam
</option> will result in the environment
368 variable
<literal>TZ=:Europe/Amsterdam
</literal>. (
<literal>:
</literal> is used intentionally as part
369 of the timezone specification, see
370 <citerefentry project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>tzset
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>.)
373 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
377 <term><option>--language=
<replaceable>LANG
</replaceable></option></term>
379 <listitem><para>Takes a comma- or colon-separated list of languages preferred by the user, ordered
380 by descending priority. The
<varname>$LANG
</varname> and
<varname>$LANGUAGE
</varname> environment
381 variables are initialized from this value on login, and thus values suitible for these environment
382 variables are accepted here, for example
<option>--language=de_DE.UTF-
8</option>. This option may
383 be used more than once, in which case the language lists are concatenated.
</para>
385 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
389 <term><option>--ssh-authorized-keys=
<replaceable>KEYS
</replaceable></option></term>
390 <listitem><para>Either takes a SSH authorized key line to associate with the user record or a
391 <literal>@
</literal> character followed by a path to a file to read one or more such lines from. SSH
392 keys configured this way are made available to SSH to permit access to this home directory and user
393 record. This option may be used more than once to configure multiple SSH keys.
</para>
395 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
399 <term><option>--pkcs11-token-uri=
<replaceable>URI
</replaceable></option></term>
400 <listitem><para>Takes an RFC
7512 PKCS#
11 URI referencing a security token (e.g. YubiKey or PIV
401 smartcard) that shall be able to unlock the user account. The security token URI should reference a
402 security token with exactly one pair of X
.509 certificate and private key. A random secret key is
403 then generated, encrypted with the public key of the X
.509 certificate, and stored as part of the
404 user record. At login time it is decrypted with the PKCS#
11 module and then used to unlock the
405 account and associated resources. See below for an example how to set up authentication with a
406 security token.
</para>
408 <para>Instead of a valid PKCS#
11 URI, the special strings
<literal>list
</literal> and
409 <literal>auto
</literal> may be specified. If
<literal>list
</literal> is passed, a brief table of
410 suitable, currently plugged in PKCS#
11 hardware tokens is shown, along with their URIs. If
411 <literal>auto
</literal> is passed, a suitable PKCS#
11 hardware token is automatically selected (this
412 operation will fail if there isn't exactly one suitable token discovered). The latter is a useful
413 shortcut for the most common case where a single PKCS#
11 hardware token is plugged in.
</para>
415 <para>Note that many hardware security tokens implement both PKCS#
11/PIV and FIDO2 with the
416 <literal>hmac-secret
</literal> extension (for example: the YubiKey
5 series), as supported with the
417 <option>--fido2-device=
</option> option below. Both mechanisms are similarly powerful, though FIDO2
418 is the more modern technology. PKCS#
11/PIV tokens have the benefit of being recognizable before
419 authentication and hence can be used for implying the user identity to use for logging in, which
420 FIDO2 does not allow. PKCS#
11/PIV devices generally require initialization (i.e. storing a
421 private/public key pair on them, see example below) before they can be used; FIDO2 security tokens
422 generally do not required that, and work out of the box.
</para>
424 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
428 <term><option>--fido2-credential-algorithm=
<replaceable>STRING
</replaceable></option></term>
429 <listitem><para>Specify COSE algorithm used in credential generation. The default value is
430 <literal>es256
</literal>. Supported values are
<literal>es256
</literal>,
<literal>rs256
</literal>
431 and
<literal>eddsa
</literal>.
</para>
433 <para><literal>es256
</literal> denotes ECDSA over NIST P-
256 with SHA-
256.
<literal>rs256
</literal>
434 denotes
2048-bit RSA with PKCS#
1.5 padding and SHA-
256.
<literal>eddsa
</literal> denotes
435 EDDSA over Curve25519 with SHA-
512.
</para>
437 <para>Note that your authenticator may not support some algorithms.
</para>
439 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v251"/></listitem>
443 <term><option>--fido2-device=
<replaceable>PATH
</replaceable></option></term>
445 <listitem><para>Takes a path to a Linux
<literal>hidraw
</literal> device
446 (e.g.
<filename>/dev/hidraw1
</filename>), referring to a FIDO2 security token implementing the
447 <literal>hmac-secret
</literal> extension that shall be able to unlock the user account. A random salt
448 value is generated on the host and passed to the FIDO2 device, which calculates a HMAC hash of the
449 salt using an internal secret key. The result is then used as the key to unlock the user account. The
450 random salt is included in the user record, so that whenever authentication is needed it can be
451 passed to the FIDO2 token again.
</para>
453 <para>Instead of a valid path to a FIDO2
<literal>hidraw
</literal> device the special strings
454 <literal>list
</literal> and
<literal>auto
</literal> may be specified. If
<literal>list
</literal> is
455 passed, a brief table of suitable discovered FIDO2 devices is shown. If
<literal>auto
</literal> is
456 passed, a suitable FIDO2 token is automatically selected, if exactly one is discovered. The latter is
457 a useful shortcut for the most common case where a single FIDO2 hardware token is plugged in.
</para>
459 <para>Note that FIDO2 devices suitable for this option must implement the
460 <literal>hmac-secret
</literal> extension. Most current devices (such as the YubiKey
5 series) do. If
461 the extension is not implemented the device cannot be used for unlocking home directories.
</para>
463 <para>The FIDO2 device may be subsequently removed by setting the device path to an empty string
464 (e.g.
<command>homectl update $USER
--fido2-device=
""</command>).
</para>
466 <para>Note that many hardware security tokens implement both FIDO2 and PKCS#
11/PIV (and thus may be
467 used with either
<option>--fido2-device=
</option> or
<option>--pkcs11-token-uri=
</option>), for a
468 discussion see above.
</para>
470 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v246"/></listitem>
474 <term><option>--fido2-with-client-pin=
<replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></option></term>
476 <listitem><para>When enrolling a FIDO2 security token, controls whether to require the user to enter
477 a PIN when unlocking the account (the FIDO2
<literal>clientPin
</literal> feature). Defaults to
478 <literal>yes
</literal>. (Note: this setting is without effect if the security token does not support
479 the
<literal>clientPin
</literal> feature at all, or does not allow enabling or disabling
482 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v249"/></listitem>
486 <term><option>--fido2-with-user-presence=
<replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></option></term>
488 <listitem><para>When enrolling a FIDO2 security token, controls whether to require the user to
489 verify presence (tap the token, the FIDO2
<literal>up
</literal> feature) when unlocking the account.
490 Defaults to
<literal>yes
</literal>. (Note: this setting is without effect if the security token does not support
491 the
<literal>up
</literal> feature at all, or does not allow enabling or disabling it.)
494 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v249"/></listitem>
498 <term><option>--fido2-with-user-verification=
<replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></option></term>
500 <listitem><para>When enrolling a FIDO2 security token, controls whether to require user verification
501 when unlocking the account (the FIDO2
<literal>uv
</literal> feature). Defaults to
502 <literal>no
</literal>. (Note: this setting is without effect if the security token does not support
503 the
<literal>uv
</literal> feature at all, or does not allow enabling or disabling it.)
</para>
505 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v249"/></listitem>
509 <term><option>--recovery-key=
<replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></option></term>
511 <listitem><para>Accepts a boolean argument. If enabled a recovery key is configured for the
512 account. A recovery key is a computer generated access key that may be used to regain access to an
513 account if the password has been forgotten or the authentication token lost. The key is generated and
514 shown on screen, and should be printed or otherwise transferred to a secure location. A recovery key
515 may be entered instead of a regular password to unlock the account.
</para>
517 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v247"/></listitem>
521 <term><option>--blob=
<replaceable>PATH
</replaceable></option></term>
522 <term><option>-b
</option> <replaceable>PATH
</replaceable></term>
523 <term><option>--blob=
<replaceable>FILENAME
</replaceable>=
<replaceable>PATH
</replaceable></option></term>
524 <term><option>-b
</option> <replaceable>FILENAME
</replaceable>=
<replaceable>PATH
</replaceable></term>
526 <listitem><para>Accepts either a directory path, or a file name followed by a file path. If just a
527 directory path is specified, then the user's entire blob directory is replaced the specified path.
528 Note that this replacement is performed before per-file manipulations are applied, which means these per-file
529 manipulations will be applied on top of the specified directory. If a filename and file path are specified, then
530 the single specified blob file will be overwritten with the specified path. If completely blank, the entire blob
531 directory is emptied out (which also resets all previous blob-related flags up to this point). If a filename is
532 specified but the corresponding path is blank, that single file will be deleted from the blob directory. All changes
533 are performed in temporary copies of the specified files in directories, which means that the originals specified on
534 the command line are not modified. See
<ulink url=
"https://systemd.io/USER_RECORD_BLOB_DIRS">User Record Blob Directories
</ulink>
535 for more information about blob directories.
</para>
537 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v256"/></listitem>
541 <term><option>--avatar=
<replaceable>PATH
</replaceable></option></term>
542 <term><option>--login-background=
<replaceable>PATH
</replaceable></option></term>
544 <listitem><para>Accept a file path. If set, the specified file is used to overwrite the
545 corresponding file in the user's blob directory. If blank, the corresponding file is deleted
546 from the blob directory. Essentially, these options are shortcuts to
547 <option>--blob=
<replaceable>FILENAME
</replaceable>=
<replaceable>PATH
</replaceable></option>
548 for the known filenames defined in
549 <ulink url=
"https://systemd.io/USER_RECORD_BLOB_DIRS">User Record Blob Directories
</ulink>.
</para>
551 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v256"/></listitem>
555 <term><option>--locked=
<replaceable>BOOLEAN
</replaceable></option></term>
557 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. Specifies whether this user account shall be locked. If
558 true logins into this account are prohibited, if false (the default) they are permitted (of course,
559 only if authorization otherwise succeeds).
</para>
561 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
565 <term><option>--not-before=
<replaceable>TIMESTAMP
</replaceable></option></term>
566 <term><option>--not-after=
<replaceable>TIMESTAMP
</replaceable></option></term>
568 <listitem><para>These options take a timestamp string, in the format documented in
569 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.time
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry> and
570 configures points in time before and after logins into this account are not
573 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
577 <term><option>--rate-limit-interval=
<replaceable>SECS
</replaceable></option></term>
578 <term><option>--rate-limit-burst=
<replaceable>NUMBER
</replaceable></option></term>
580 <listitem><para>Configures a rate limit on authentication attempts for this user. If the user
581 attempts to authenticate more often than the specified number, on a specific system, within the
582 specified time interval authentication is refused until the time interval passes. Defaults to
10
583 times per
1min.
</para>
585 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
589 <term><option>--password-hint=
<replaceable>TEXT
</replaceable></option></term>
591 <listitem><para>Takes a password hint to store alongside the user record. This string is stored
592 accessible only to privileged users and the user itself and may not be queried by other users.
593 Example:
<option>--password-hint=
"My first pet's name"</option>.
</para>
595 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
599 <term><option>--enforce-password-policy=
<replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></option></term>
600 <term><option>-P
</option></term>
602 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. Configures whether to enforce the system's password policy
603 for this user, regarding quality and strength of selected passwords. Defaults to
604 on.
<option>-P
</option> is short for
605 <option>---enforce-password-policy=no
</option>.
</para>
607 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
611 <term><option>--password-change-now=
<replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></option></term>
613 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. If true the user is asked to change their password on next
616 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
620 <term><option>--password-change-min=
<replaceable>TIME
</replaceable></option></term>
621 <term><option>--password-change-max=
<replaceable>TIME
</replaceable></option></term>
622 <term><option>--password-change-warn=
<replaceable>TIME
</replaceable></option></term>
623 <term><option>--password-change-inactive=
<replaceable>TIME
</replaceable></option></term>
625 <listitem><para>Each of these options takes a time span specification as argument (in the syntax
627 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.time
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>) and
628 configures various aspects of the user's password expiration policy. Specifically,
629 <option>--password-change-min=
</option> configures how much time has to pass after changing the
630 password of the user until the password may be changed again. If the user tries to change their
631 password before this time passes the attempt is refused.
<option>--password-change-max=
</option>
632 configures how soon after it has been changed the password expires and needs to be changed again.
633 After this time passes logging in may only proceed after the password is changed.
634 <option>--password-change-warn=
</option> specifies how much earlier than then the time configured
635 with
<option>--password-change-max=
</option> the user is warned at login to change their password as
636 it will expire soon. Finally
<option>--password-change-inactive=
</option> configures the time which
637 has to pass after the password as expired until the user is not permitted to log in or change the
638 password anymore. Note that these options only apply to password authentication, and do not apply to
639 other forms of authentication, for example PKCS#
11-based security token
640 authentication.
</para>
642 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
646 <term><option>--disk-size=
<replaceable>BYTES
</replaceable></option></term>
647 <listitem><para>Either takes a size in bytes as argument (possibly using the usual K, M, G, …
648 suffixes for
1024 base values), a percentage value, or the special strings
<literal>min
</literal> or
649 <literal>max
</literal>, and configures the disk space to assign to the user. If a percentage value is
650 specified (i.e. the argument suffixed with
<literal>%
</literal>) it is taken relative to the
651 available disk space of the backing file system. If specified as
<literal>min
</literal> assigns the
652 minimal disk space permitted by the constraints of the backing file system and other limits, when
653 specified as
<literal>max
</literal> assigns the maximum disk space available. If the LUKS2 backend is
654 used this configures the size of the loopback file and file system contained therein. For the other
655 storage backends configures disk quota using the filesystem's native quota logic, if available. If
656 not specified, defaults to
85% of the available disk space for the LUKS2 backend and to no quota for
659 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
663 <term><option>--access-mode=
<replaceable>MODE
</replaceable></option></term>
665 <listitem><para>Takes a UNIX file access mode written in octal. Configures the access mode of the
666 home directory itself. Note that this is only used when the directory is first created, and the user
667 may change this any time afterwards. Example:
668 <option>--access-mode=
0700</option></para>
670 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
674 <term><option>--umask=
<replaceable>MASK
</replaceable></option></term>
676 <listitem><para>Takes the access mode mask (in octal syntax) to apply to newly created files and
677 directories of the user (
"umask"). If set this controls the initial umask set for all login sessions of
678 the user, possibly overriding the system's defaults.
</para>
680 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
684 <term><option>--nice=
<replaceable>NICE
</replaceable></option></term>
686 <listitem><para>Takes the numeric scheduling priority (
"nice level") to apply to the processes of the user at login
687 time. Takes a numeric value in the range -
20 (highest priority) to
19 (lowest priority).
</para>
689 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
693 <term><option>--rlimit=
<replaceable>LIMIT
</replaceable>=
<replaceable>VALUE
</replaceable><optional>:
<replaceable>VALUE
</replaceable></optional></option></term>
695 <listitem><para>Allows configuration of resource limits for processes of this user, see
<citerefentry
696 project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>getrlimit
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>
697 for details. Takes a resource limit name (e.g.
<literal>LIMIT_NOFILE
</literal>) followed by an equal
698 sign, followed by a numeric limit. Optionally, separated by colon a second numeric limit may be
699 specified. If two are specified this refers to the soft and hard limits, respectively. If only one
700 limit is specified the setting sets both limits in one.
</para>
702 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
706 <term><option>--tasks-max=
<replaceable>TASKS
</replaceable></option></term>
708 <listitem><para>Takes a non-zero unsigned integer as argument. Configures the maximum number of tasks
709 (i.e. threads, where each process is at least one thread) the user may have at any given time. This
710 limit applies to all tasks forked off the user's sessions, even if they change user identity via
711 <citerefentry project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>su
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
712 or a similar tool. Use
<option>--rlimit=LIMIT_NPROC=
</option> to place a limit on the tasks actually
713 running under the UID of the user, thus excluding any child processes that might have changed user
714 identity. This controls the
<varname>TasksMax=
</varname> setting of the per-user systemd slice unit
715 <filename>user-$UID.slice
</filename>. See
716 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.resource-control
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
717 for further details.
</para>
719 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
723 <term><option>--memory-high=
<replaceable>BYTES
</replaceable></option></term>
724 <term><option>--memory-max=
<replaceable>BYTES
</replaceable></option></term>
726 <listitem><para>Set a limit on the memory a user may take up on a system at any given time in bytes
727 (the usual K, M, G, … suffixes are supported, to the base of
1024). This includes all memory used by
728 the user itself and all processes they forked off that changed user credentials. This controls the
729 <varname>MemoryHigh=
</varname> and
<varname>MemoryMax=
</varname> settings of the per-user systemd
730 slice unit
<filename>user-$UID.slice
</filename>. See
731 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.resource-control
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
732 for further details.
</para>
734 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
738 <term><option>--cpu-weight=
<replaceable>WEIGHT
</replaceable></option></term>
739 <term><option>--io-weight=
<replaceable>WEIGHT
</replaceable></option></term>
741 <listitem><para>Set CPU and IO scheduling weights of the processes of the user, including those of
742 processes forked off by the user that changed user credentials. Takes a numeric value in the range
743 1…
10000. This controls the
<varname>CPUWeight=
</varname> and
<varname>IOWeight=
</varname> settings of
744 the per-user systemd slice unit
<filename>user-$UID.slice
</filename>. See
745 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.resource-control
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
746 for further details.
</para>
748 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
752 <term><option>--storage=
<replaceable>STORAGE
</replaceable></option></term>
754 <listitem><para>Selects the storage mechanism to use for this home directory. Takes one of
755 <literal>luks
</literal>,
<literal>fscrypt
</literal>,
<literal>directory
</literal>,
756 <literal>subvolume
</literal>,
<literal>cifs
</literal>. For details about these mechanisms, see
757 above. If a new home directory is created and the storage type is not specifically specified,
758 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>homed.conf
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
759 defines which default storage to use.
</para>
761 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
765 <term><option>--image-path=
<replaceable>PATH
</replaceable></option></term>
767 <listitem><para>Takes a file system path. Configures where to place the user's home directory. When
768 LUKS2 storage is used refers to the path to the loopback file, otherwise to the path to the home
769 directory (which may be in
<filename>/home/
</filename> or any other accessible filesystem). When
770 unspecified defaults to
<filename>/home/$USER.home
</filename> when LUKS storage is used and
771 <filename>/home/$USER.homedir
</filename> for the other storage mechanisms. Not defined for the
772 <literal>cifs
</literal> storage mechanism. To use LUKS2 storage on a regular block device (for
773 example a USB stick) pass the path to the block device here. Specifying the path to a directory here
774 when using LUKS2 storage is not allowed. Similar, specifying the path to a regular file or device
775 node is not allowed if any of the other storage backends are used.
</para>
777 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
781 <term><option>--drop-caches=
<replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></option></term>
783 <listitem><para>Automatically flush OS file system caches on logout. This is useful in combination
784 with the fscrypt storage backend to ensure the OS does not keep decrypted versions of the files and
785 directories in memory (and accessible) after logout. This option is also supported on other backends,
786 but should not bring any benefit there. Defaults to off, except if the selected storage backend is
787 fscrypt, where it defaults to on. Note that flushing OS caches will negatively influence performance
788 of the OS shortly after logout.
</para>
790 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v250"/></listitem>
794 <term><option>--fs-type=
<replaceable>TYPE
</replaceable></option></term>
796 <listitem><para>When LUKS2 storage is used configures the file system type to use inside the home
797 directory LUKS2 container. One of
<literal>btrfs
</literal>,
<literal>ext4
</literal>,
798 <literal>xfs
</literal>. If not specified
799 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>homed.conf
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
800 defines which default file system type to use. Note that
<literal>xfs
</literal> is not recommended as
801 its support for file system resizing is too limited.
</para>
803 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
807 <term><option>--luks-discard=
<replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></option></term>
809 <listitem><para>When LUKS2 storage is used configures whether to enable the
810 <literal>discard
</literal> feature of the file system. If enabled the file system on top of the LUKS2
811 volume will report empty block information to LUKS2 and the loopback file below, ensuring that empty
812 space in the home directory is returned to the backing file system below the LUKS2 volume, resulting
813 in a
"sparse" loopback file. This option mostly defaults to off, since this permits over-committing
814 home directories which results in I/O errors if the underlying file system runs full while the upper
815 file system wants to allocate a block. Such I/O errors are generally not handled well by file systems
816 nor applications. When LUKS2 storage is used on top of regular block devices (instead of on top a
817 loopback file) the discard logic defaults to on.
</para>
819 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
823 <term><option>--luks-offline-discard=
<replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></option></term>
825 <listitem><para>Similar to
<option>--luks-discard=
</option>, controls the trimming of the file
826 system. However, while
<option>--luks-discard=
</option> controls what happens when the home directory
827 is active,
<option>--luks-offline-discard=
</option> controls what happens when it becomes inactive,
828 i.e. whether to trim/allocate the storage when deactivating the home directory. This option defaults
829 to on, to ensure disk space is minimized while a user is not logged in.
</para>
831 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v246"/></listitem>
835 <term><option>--luks-extra-mount-options=
<replaceable>OPTIONS
</replaceable></option></term>
837 <listitem><para>Takes a string containing additional mount options to use when mounting the LUKS
838 volume. If specified, this string will be appended to the default, built-in mount
841 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v250"/></listitem>
845 <term><option>--luks-cipher=
<replaceable>CIPHER
</replaceable></option></term>
846 <term><option>--luks-cipher-mode=
<replaceable>MODE
</replaceable></option></term>
847 <term><option>--luks-volume-key-size=
<replaceable>BYTES
</replaceable></option></term>
848 <term><option>--luks-pbkdf-type=
<replaceable>TYPE
</replaceable></option></term>
849 <term><option>--luks-pbkdf-hash-algorithm=
<replaceable>ALGORITHM
</replaceable></option></term>
850 <term><option>--luks-pbkdf-force-iterations=
<replaceable>ITERATIONS
</replaceable></option></term>
851 <term><option>--luks-pbkdf-time-cost=
<replaceable>SECONDS
</replaceable></option></term>
852 <term><option>--luks-pbkdf-memory-cost=
<replaceable>BYTES
</replaceable></option></term>
853 <term><option>--luks-pbkdf-parallel-threads=
<replaceable>THREADS
</replaceable></option></term>
854 <term><option>--luks-sector-size=
<replaceable>BYTES
</replaceable></option></term>
856 <listitem><para>Configures various cryptographic parameters for the LUKS2 storage mechanism. See
858 project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>cryptsetup
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
859 for details on the specific attributes.
</para>
861 <para>Note that
<command>homectl
</command> uses bytes for key size, like
862 <filename>/proc/crypto
</filename>, but
<citerefentry
863 project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>cryptsetup
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
866 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
870 <term><option>--auto-resize-mode=
</option></term>
872 <listitem><para>Configures whether to automatically grow and/or shrink the backing file system on
873 login and logout. Takes one of the strings
<literal>off
</literal>,
<literal>grow
</literal>,
874 <literal>shrink-and-grow
</literal>. Only applies to the LUKS2 backend currently, and if the btrfs
875 file system is used inside it (since only then online growing/shrinking of the file system is
876 supported). Defaults to
<literal>shrink-and-grow
</literal>, if LUKS2/btrfs is used, otherwise is
877 off. If set to
<literal>off
</literal> no automatic shrinking/growing during login or logout is
878 done. If set to
<literal>grow
</literal> the home area is grown to the size configured via
879 <option>--disk-size=
</option> should it currently be smaller. If it already matches the configured
880 size or is larger no operation is executed. If set to
<literal>shrink-and-grow
</literal> the home
881 area is also resized during logout to the minimal size the used disk space and file system
882 constraints permit. This mode thus ensures that while a home area is activated it is sized to the
883 configured size, but while deactivated it is compacted taking up only the minimal space possible.
884 Note that if the system is powered off abnormally or if the user otherwise not logged out cleanly the
885 shrinking operation will not take place, and the user has to re-login/logout again before it is
886 executed again.
</para>
888 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v250"/></listitem>
892 <term><option>--rebalance-weight=
</option></term>
894 <listitem><para>Configures the weight parameter for the free disk space rebalancing logic. Only
895 applies to the LUKS2 backend (since for the LUKS2 backend disk space is allocated from a per-user
896 loopback file system instead of immediately from a common pool like the other backends do it). In
897 regular intervals free disk space in the active home areas and their backing storage is redistributed
898 among them, taking the weight value configured here into account. Expects an integer in the range
899 1…
10000, or the special string
<literal>off
</literal>. If not specified defaults to
100. The weight
900 is used to scale free space made available to the home areas: a home area with a weight of
200 will
901 get twice the free space as one with a weight of
100; a home area with a weight of
50 will get half
902 of that. The backing file system will be assigned space for a weight of
20. If set to
903 <literal>off
</literal> no automatic free space distribution is done for this home area. Note that
904 resizing the home area explicitly (with
<command>homectl resize
</command> see below) will implicitly
905 turn off the automatic rebalancing. To reenable the automatic rebalancing use
906 <option>--rebalance-weight=
</option> with an empty parameter.
</para>
908 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v250"/></listitem>
912 <term><option>--nosuid=
<replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></option></term>
913 <term><option>--nodev=
<replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></option></term>
914 <term><option>--noexec=
<replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></option></term>
916 <listitem><para>Configures the
<literal>nosuid
</literal>,
<literal>nodev
</literal> and
917 <literal>noexec
</literal> mount options for the home directories. By default
<literal>nodev
</literal>
918 and
<literal>nosuid
</literal> are on, while
<literal>noexec
</literal> is off. For details about these
919 mount options see
<citerefentry
920 project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>mount
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
</para>
922 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
926 <term><option>--cifs-domain=
<replaceable>DOMAIN
</replaceable></option></term>
927 <term><option>--cifs-user-name=
<replaceable>USER
</replaceable></option></term>
928 <term><option>--cifs-service=
<replaceable>SERVICE
</replaceable></option></term>
929 <term><option>--cifs-extra-mount-options=
<replaceable>OPTIONS
</replaceable></option></term>
931 <listitem><para>Configures the Windows File Sharing (CIFS) domain and user to associate with the home
932 directory/user account, as well as the file share (
"service") to mount as directory. The latter is
933 used when
<literal>cifs
</literal> storage is selected. The file share should be specified in format
934 <literal>//
<replaceable>host
</replaceable>/
<replaceable>share
</replaceable>/
<replaceable>directory/…
</replaceable></literal>. The
935 directory part is optional — if not specified the home directory will be placed in the top-level
936 directory of the share. The
<option>--cifs-extra-mount-options=
</option> setting allows specifying
937 additional mount options when mounting the share, see
<citerefentry
938 project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>mount.cifs
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
941 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
945 <term><option>--stop-delay=
<replaceable>SECS
</replaceable></option></term>
947 <listitem><para>Configures the time the per-user service manager shall continue to run after the all
948 sessions of the user ended. The default is configured in
949 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>logind.conf
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> (for
950 home directories of LUKS2 storage located on removable media this defaults to
0 though). A longer
951 time makes sure quick, repetitive logins are more efficient as the user's service manager doesn't
952 have to be started every time.
</para>
954 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
958 <term><option>--kill-processes=
<replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></option></term>
960 <listitem><para>Configures whether to kill all processes of the user on logout. The default is
962 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>logind.conf
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
</para>
964 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
968 <term><option>--auto-login=
<replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></option></term>
970 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. Configures whether the graphical UI of the system should
971 automatically log this user in if possible. Defaults to off. If less or more than one user is marked
972 this way automatic login is disabled.
</para>
974 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
978 <term><option>--session-launcher=
<replaceable>LAUNCHER
</replaceable></option></term>
980 <listitem><para>Takes a string argument. Configures the user's preferred session launcher
981 .desktop entry file (i.e.
<literal>gnome
</literal>,
<literal>plasma
</literal>, or other names that
982 appear in
<filename>/usr/share/xesssions/
</filename> or
<filename>/usr/share/wayland-sessions
</filename>).
983 This is read by the display manager to pick the default session that is launched when the user logs in.
</para>
985 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v256"/></listitem>
989 <term><option>--session-type=
<replaceable>TYPE
</replaceable></option></term>
991 <listitem><para>Takes a string argument. Configures the user's preferred session type
992 (i.e.
<literal>x11
</literal>,
<literal>wayland
</literal>, and other values accepted by
993 <varname>$XDG_SESSION_TYPE
</varname>). This is read by the display manage to pick the
994 default session type the user is logged into.
</para>
996 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v256"/></listitem>
1002 <title>Commands
</title>
1004 <para>The following commands are understood:
</para>
1009 <term><command>list
</command></term>
1011 <listitem><para>List all home directories (along with brief details) currently managed by
1012 <filename>systemd-homed.service
</filename>. This command is also executed if none is specified on the
1013 command line. (Note that the list of users shown by this command does not include users managed by
1014 other subsystems, such as system users or any traditional users listed in
1015 <filename>/etc/passwd
</filename>.)
</para>
1017 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
1021 <term><command>activate
</command> <replaceable>USER
</replaceable> [
<replaceable>USER…
</replaceable>]
</term>
1023 <listitem><para>Activate one or more home directories. The home directories of each listed user will
1024 be activated and made available under their mount points (typically in
1025 <filename>/home/$USER
</filename>). Note that any home activated this way stays active indefinitely,
1026 until it is explicitly deactivated again (with
<command>deactivate
</command>, see below), or the user
1027 logs in and out again and it thus is deactivated due to the automatic deactivation-on-logout
1030 <para>Activation of a home directory involves various operations that depend on the selected storage
1031 mechanism. If the LUKS2 mechanism is used, this generally involves: inquiring the user for a
1032 password, setting up a loopback device, validating and activating the LUKS2 volume, checking the file
1033 system, mounting the file system, and potentially changing the ownership of all included files to the
1034 correct UID/GID.
</para>
1036 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
1040 <term><command>deactivate
</command> <replaceable>USER
</replaceable> [
<replaceable>USER…
</replaceable>]
</term>
1042 <listitem><para>Deactivate one or more home directories. This undoes the effect of
1043 <command>activate
</command>.
</para>
1045 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
1049 <term><command>inspect
</command> <replaceable>USER
</replaceable> [
<replaceable>USER…
</replaceable>]
</term>
1051 <listitem><para>Show various details about the specified home directories. This shows various
1052 information about the home directory and its user account, including runtime data such as current
1053 state, disk use and similar. Combine with
<option>--json=
</option> to show the detailed JSON user
1054 record instead, possibly combined with
<option>--export-format=
</option> to suppress certain aspects
1055 of the output.
</para>
1057 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
1061 <term><command>authenticate
</command> <replaceable>USER
</replaceable> [
<replaceable>USER…
</replaceable>]
</term>
1063 <listitem><para>Validate authentication credentials of a home directory. This queries the caller for
1064 a password (or similar) and checks that it correctly unlocks the home directory. This leaves the home
1065 directory in the state it is in, i.e. it leaves the home directory in inactive state if it was
1066 inactive before, and in active state if it was active before.
</para>
1068 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
1072 <term><command>create
</command> <replaceable>USER
</replaceable></term>
1073 <term><command>create
</command> <option>--identity=
<replaceable>PATH
</replaceable></option> <optional><replaceable>USER
</replaceable></optional></term>
1075 <listitem><para>Create a new home directory/user account of the specified name. Use the various
1076 user record property options (as documented above) to control various aspects of the home directory
1077 and its user accounts.
</para>
1079 <para>The specified user name should follow the strict syntax described on
<ulink
1080 url=
"https://systemd.io/USER_NAMES">User/Group Name Syntax
</ulink>.
</para>
1082 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
1086 <term><command>remove
</command> <replaceable>USER
</replaceable></term>
1088 <listitem><para>Remove a home directory/user account. This will remove both the home directory's user
1089 record and the home directory itself, and thus delete all files and directories owned by the
1092 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
1096 <term><command>update
</command> <replaceable>USER
</replaceable></term>
1097 <term><command>update
</command> <option>--identity=
<replaceable>PATH
</replaceable></option> <optional><replaceable>USER
</replaceable></optional></term>
1099 <listitem><para>Update a home directory/user account. Use the various user record property options
1100 (as documented above) to make changes to the account, or alternatively provide a full, updated JSON
1101 user record via the
<option>--identity=
</option> option.
</para>
1103 <para>Note that changes to user records not signed by a cryptographic private key available locally
1104 are not permitted, unless
<option>--identity=
</option> is used with a user record that is already
1105 correctly signed by a recognized private key.
</para>
1107 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
1111 <term><command>passwd
</command> <replaceable>USER
</replaceable></term>
1113 <listitem><para>Change the password of the specified home directory/user account.
</para>
1115 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
1119 <term><command>resize
</command> <replaceable>USER
</replaceable> <replaceable>BYTES
</replaceable></term>
1121 <listitem><para>Change the disk space assigned to the specified home directory. If the LUKS2 storage
1122 mechanism is used this will automatically resize the loopback file and the file system contained
1123 within. Note that if
<literal>ext4
</literal> is used inside of the LUKS2 volume, it is necessary to
1124 deactivate the home directory before shrinking it (i.e the user has to log out). Growing can be done
1125 while the home directory is active. If
<literal>xfs
</literal> is used inside of the LUKS2 volume the
1126 home directory may not be shrunk whatsoever. On all three of
<literal>ext4
</literal>,
1127 <literal>xfs
</literal> and
<literal>btrfs
</literal> the home directory may be grown while the user is
1128 logged in, and on the latter also shrunk while the user is logged in. If the
1129 <literal>subvolume
</literal>,
<literal>directory
</literal>,
<literal>fscrypt
</literal> storage
1130 mechanisms are used, resizing will change file system quota. The size parameter may make use of the
1131 usual suffixes B, K, M, G, T (to the base of
1024). The special strings
<literal>min
</literal> and
1132 <literal>max
</literal> may be specified in place of a numeric size value, for minimizing or
1133 maximizing disk space assigned to the home area, taking constraints of the file system, disk usage inside
1134 the home area and on the backing storage into account.
</para>
1136 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
1140 <term><command>lock
</command> <replaceable>USER
</replaceable></term>
1142 <listitem><para>Temporarily suspend access to the user's home directory and remove any associated
1143 cryptographic keys from memory. Any attempts to access the user's home directory will stall until the
1144 home directory is unlocked again (i.e. re-authenticated). This functionality is primarily intended to
1145 be used during system suspend to make sure the user's data cannot be accessed until the user
1146 re-authenticates on resume. This operation is only defined for home directories that use the LUKS2
1147 storage mechanism.
</para>
1149 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
1153 <term><command>unlock
</command> <replaceable>USER
</replaceable></term>
1155 <listitem><para>Resume access to the user's home directory again, undoing the effect of
1156 <command>lock
</command> above. This requires authentication of the user, as the cryptographic keys
1157 required for access to the home directory need to be reacquired.
</para>
1159 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
1163 <term><command>lock-all
</command></term>
1165 <listitem><para>Execute the
<command>lock
</command> command on all suitable home directories at
1166 once. This operation is generally executed on system suspend (i.e. by
<command>systemctl
1167 suspend
</command> and related commands), to ensure all active user's cryptographic keys for accessing
1168 their home directories are removed from memory.
</para>
1170 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
1174 <term><command>deactivate-all
</command></term>
1176 <listitem><para>Execute the
<command>deactivate
</command> command on all active home directories at
1177 once. This operation is generally executed on system shut down (i.e. by
<command>systemctl
1178 poweroff
</command> and related commands), to ensure all active user's home directories are fully
1179 deactivated before
<filename>/home/
</filename> and related file systems are unmounted.
</para>
1181 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v247"/></listitem>
1185 <term><command>with
</command> <replaceable>USER
</replaceable> <replaceable>COMMAND…
</replaceable></term>
1187 <listitem><para>Activate the specified user's home directory, run the specified command (under the
1188 caller's identity, not the specified user's) and deactivate the home directory afterwards again
1189 (unless the user is logged in otherwise). This command is useful for running privileged backup
1190 scripts and such, but requires authentication with the user's credentials in order to be able to
1191 unlock the user's home directory.
</para>
1193 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
1197 <term><command>rebalance
</command></term>
1199 <listitem><para>Rebalance free disk space between active home areas and the backing storage. See
1200 <option>--rebalance-weight=
</option> above. This executes no operation unless there's at least one
1201 active LUKS2 home area that has disk space rebalancing enabled. This operation is synchronous: it
1202 will only complete once disk space is rebalanced according to the rebalancing weights. Note that
1203 rebalancing also takes place automatically in the background in regular intervals. Use this command
1204 to synchronously ensure disk space is properly redistributed before initiating an operation requiring
1205 large amounts of disk space.
</para>
1207 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v250"/></listitem>
1211 <term><command>firstboot
</command></term>
1213 <listitem><para>This command is supposed to be invoked during the initial boot of the system. It
1214 checks whether any regular home area exists so far, and if not queries the user interactively on the
1215 console for user name and password and creates one. Alternatively, if one or more service credentials
1216 whose name starts with
<literal>home.create.
</literal> are passed to the command (containing a user
1217 record in JSON format) these users are automatically created at boot.
</para>
1219 <para>This command is invoked by the
<filename>systemd-homed-firstboot.service
</filename> service
1222 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v256"/></listitem>
1228 <title>Credentials
</title>
1230 <para>When invoked with the
<command>firstboot
</command> command,
<command>homectl
</command> supports the
1231 service credentials logic as implemented by
1232 <varname>ImportCredential=
</varname>/
<varname>LoadCredential=
</varname>/
<varname>SetCredential=
</varname>
1233 (see
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
1234 details). The following credentials are used when passed in:
</para>
1236 <variablelist class='system-credentials'
>
1238 <term><varname>home.create.*
</varname></term>
1240 <listitem><para>If one or more credentials whose names begin with
<literal>home.create.
</literal>,
1241 followed by a valid UNIX username are passed, a new home area is created, one for each specified user
1244 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v256"/></listitem>
1250 <title>Kernel Command Line
</title>
1252 <variablelist class='kernel-commandline-options'
>
1254 <term><varname>systemd.firstboot=
</varname></term>
1256 <listitem><para>This boolean will disable the effect of
<command>homectl firstboot
</command>
1257 command. It's primarily interpreted by
1258 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-firstboot
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
</para>
1260 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v256"/></listitem>
1266 <title>Exit status
</title>
1268 <para>On success,
0 is returned, a non-zero failure code otherwise.
</para>
1270 <para>When a command is invoked with
<command>with
</command>, the exit status of the child is
1271 propagated. Effectively,
<command>homectl
</command> will exit without error if the command is
1272 successfully invoked
<emphasis>and
</emphasis> finishes successfully.
</para>
1275 <xi:include href=
"common-variables.xml" />
1278 <title>Examples
</title>
1281 <title>Create a user
<literal>waldo
</literal> in the administrator group
<literal>wheel
</literal>, and
1282 assign
500 MiB disk space to them.
</title>
1284 <programlisting>homectl create waldo
--real-name=
"Waldo McWaldo" -G wheel --disk-size=
500M
</programlisting>
1288 <title>Create a user
<literal>wally
</literal> on a USB stick, and assign a maximum of
500 concurrent
1289 tasks to them.
</title>
1291 <programlisting>homectl create wally
--real-name=
"Wally McWally" --image-path=/dev/disk/by-id/usb-SanDisk_Ultra_Fit_476fff954b2b5c44-
0:
0 --tasks-max=
500</programlisting>
1295 <title>Change nice level of user
<literal>odlaw
</literal> to +
5 and make sure the environment variable
1296 <varname>$SOME
</varname> is set to the string
<literal>THING
</literal> for them on login.
</title>
1298 <programlisting>homectl update odlaw --nice=
5 --setenv=SOME=THING
</programlisting>
1302 <title>Set up authentication with a YubiKey security token using PKCS#
11/PIV:
</title>
1304 <programlisting># Clear the Yubikey from any old keys (careful!)
1307 # Generate a new private/public key pair on the device, store the public key in 'pubkey.pem'.
1308 ykman piv generate-key -a RSA2048
9d pubkey.pem
1310 # Create a self-signed certificate from this public key, and store it on the device.
1311 ykman piv generate-certificate --subject
"Knobelei" 9d pubkey.pem
1313 # We don't need the public key on disk anymore
1316 # Allow the security token to unlock the account of user 'lafcadio'.
1317 homectl update lafcadio --pkcs11-token-uri=auto
</programlisting>
1321 <title>Set up authentication with a FIDO2 security token:
</title>
1323 <programlisting># Allow a FIDO2 security token to unlock the account of user 'nihilbaxter'.
1324 homectl update nihilbaxter --fido2-device=auto
</programlisting>
1329 <title>See Also
</title>
1330 <para><simplelist type=
"inline">
1331 <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
1332 <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-homed.service
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
1333 <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>homed.conf
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
1334 <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>userdbctl
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
1335 <member><citerefentry project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>useradd
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
1336 <member><citerefentry project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>cryptsetup
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
1337 </simplelist></para>