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=
</option><replaceable>FILE
</replaceable></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=
</option><replaceable>FORMAT
</replaceable></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=
</option><replaceable>FORMAT
</replaceable></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>
172 <xi:include href=
"user-system-options.xml" xpointer=
"host" />
173 <xi:include href=
"user-system-options.xml" xpointer=
"machine" />
175 <xi:include href=
"standard-options.xml" xpointer=
"no-pager" />
176 <xi:include href=
"standard-options.xml" xpointer=
"no-legend" />
177 <xi:include href=
"standard-options.xml" xpointer=
"no-ask-password" />
178 <xi:include href=
"standard-options.xml" xpointer=
"help" />
179 <xi:include href=
"standard-options.xml" xpointer=
"version" />
184 <title>User Record Properties
</title>
186 <para>The following options control various properties of the user records/home directories that
187 <filename>systemd-homed.service
</filename> manages. These switches may be used in conjunction with the
188 <command>create
</command> and
<command>update
</command> commands for configuring various aspects of the
189 home directory and the user account:
</para>
194 <term><option>--real-name=
</option><replaceable>NAME
</replaceable></term>
195 <term><option>-c
</option> <replaceable>NAME
</replaceable></term>
197 <listitem><para>The real name for the user. This corresponds with the GECOS field on classic UNIX NSS
200 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
204 <term><option>--realm=
</option><replaceable>REALM
</replaceable></term>
206 <listitem><para>The realm for the user. The realm associates a user with a specific organization or
207 installation, and allows distinguishing users of the same name defined in different contexts. The
208 realm can be any string that also qualifies as valid DNS domain name, and it is recommended to use
209 the organization's or installation's domain name for this purpose, but this is not enforced nor
210 required. On each system only a single user of the same name may exist, and if a user with the same
211 name and realm is seen it is assumed to refer to the same user while a user with the same name but
212 different realm is considered a different user. Note that this means that two users sharing the same
213 name but with distinct realms are not allowed on the same system. Assigning a realm to a user is
216 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
220 <term><option>--email-address=
</option><replaceable>EMAIL
</replaceable></term>
222 <listitem><para>Takes an electronic mail address to associate with the user. On log-in the
223 <varname>$EMAIL
</varname> environment variable is initialized from this value.
</para>
225 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
229 <term><option>--location=
</option><replaceable>TEXT
</replaceable></term>
231 <listitem><para>Takes location specification for this user. This is free-form text, which might or
232 might not be usable by geo-location applications. Example:
<option>--location=
"Berlin,
233 Germany"</option> or
<option>--location=
"Basement, Room 3a"</option></para>
235 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
239 <term><option>--icon-name=
</option><replaceable>ICON
</replaceable></term>
241 <listitem><para>Takes an icon name to associate with the user, following the scheme defined by the
<ulink
242 url=
"https://standards.freedesktop.org/icon-naming-spec/icon-naming-spec-latest.html">Icon Naming
243 Specification
</ulink>.
</para>
245 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
249 <term><option>--home-dir=
</option><replaceable>PATH
</replaceable></term>
250 <term><option>-d
</option><replaceable>PATH
</replaceable></term>
252 <listitem><para>Takes a path to use as home directory for the user. Note that this is the directory
253 the user's home directory is mounted to while the user is logged in. This is not where the user's
254 data is actually stored, see
<option>--image-path=
</option> for that. If not specified defaults to
255 <filename>/home/$USER
</filename>.
</para>
257 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
261 <term><option>--uid=
</option><replaceable>UID
</replaceable></term>
263 <listitem><para>Takes a preferred numeric UNIX UID to assign this user. If a user is to be created
264 with the specified UID and it is already taken by a different user on the local system then creation
265 of the home directory is refused. Note though, if after creating the home directory it is used on a
266 different system and the configured UID is taken by another user there, then
267 <command>systemd-homed
</command> may assign the user a different UID on that system. The specified
268 UID must be outside of the system user range. It is recommended to use the
60001…
60513 UID range for
269 this purpose. If not specified, the UID is automatically picked. If the home directory is found to be
270 owned by a different UID when logging in, the home directory and everything underneath it will have
271 its ownership changed automatically before login completes.
</para>
273 <para>Note that changing this option for existing home directories generally has no effect on home
274 directories that already have been registered locally (have a local
<emphasis>binding
</emphasis>), as
275 the UID used for an account on the local system is determined when the home directory is first
276 activated on it, and then remains in effect until the home directory is removed.
</para>
278 <para>Note that users managed by
<command>systemd-homed
</command> always have a matching group
279 associated with the same name as well as a GID matching the UID of the user. Thus, configuring the
280 GID separately is not permitted.
</para>
282 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
286 <term><option>--member-of=
</option><replaceable>GROUP
</replaceable></term>
287 <term><option>-G
</option> <replaceable>GROUP
</replaceable></term>
289 <listitem><para>Takes a comma-separated list of auxiliary UNIX groups this user shall belong
290 to. Example:
<option>--member-of=wheel
</option> to provide the user with administrator
291 privileges. Note that
<command>systemd-homed
</command> does not manage any groups besides a group
292 matching the user in name and numeric UID/GID. Thus any groups listed here must be registered
293 independently, for example with
<citerefentry
294 project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>groupadd
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
295 Any non-existent groups are ignored. This option may be used more than once, in which case all
296 specified group lists are combined. If the user is currently a member of a group which is not listed,
297 the user will be removed from the group.
</para>
299 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
303 <term><option>--capability-bounding-set=
</option><replaceable>CAPABILITIES
</replaceable></term>
304 <term><option>--capability-ambient-set=
</option><replaceable>CAPABILITIES
</replaceable></term>
306 <listitem><para>These options take a space separated list of process capabilities
307 (e.g.
<constant>CAP_WAKE_ALARM
</constant>,
<constant>CAP_BLOCK_SUSPEND
</constant>, …) that shall be
308 set in the capability bounding and ambient sets for all the user's sessions. See
<citerefentry
309 project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>capabilities
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>
310 for details on the capabilities concept. These options may be used more than once, in which case the
311 specified lists are combined. If the parameter begins with a
<literal>~
</literal> character the
312 effect is inverted: the specified capability is dropped from the specific set.
</para>
314 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v254"/></listitem>
318 <term><option>--skel=
</option><replaceable>PATH
</replaceable></term>
320 <listitem><para>Takes a file system path to a directory. Specifies the skeleton directory to
321 initialize the home directory with. All files and directories in the specified path are copied into
322 any newly create home directory. If not specified defaults to
<filename>/etc/skel/
</filename>.
325 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
329 <term><option>--shell=
</option><replaceable>SHELL
</replaceable></term>
331 <listitem><para>Takes a file system path. Specifies the shell binary to execute on terminal
332 logins. If not specified defaults to
<filename>/bin/bash
</filename>.
</para>
334 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
338 <term><option>--setenv=
</option><replaceable>VARIABLE
</replaceable>[=
<replaceable>VALUE
</replaceable>]
</term>
340 <listitem><para>Takes an environment variable assignment to set for all user processes. May be used
341 multiple times to set multiple environment variables. When
<literal>=
</literal> and
342 <replaceable>VALUE
</replaceable> are omitted, the value of the variable with the same name in the
343 program environment will be used.
</para>
345 <para>Note that a number of other settings also result in environment variables to be set for the
346 user, including
<option>--email=
</option>,
<option>--timezone=
</option> and
347 <option>--language=
</option>.
</para>
349 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
353 <term><option>--timezone=
</option><replaceable>TIMEZONE
</replaceable></term>
355 <listitem><para>Takes a time zone location name that sets the timezone for the specified user. When
356 the user logs in the
<varname>$TZ
</varname> environment variable is initialized from this
357 setting. Example:
<option>--timezone=Europe/Amsterdam
</option> will result in the environment
358 variable
<literal>TZ=:Europe/Amsterdam
</literal>. (
<literal>:
</literal> is used intentionally as part
359 of the timezone specification, see
360 <citerefentry project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>tzset
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>.)
363 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
367 <term><option>--language=
</option><replaceable>LANG
</replaceable></term>
369 <listitem><para>Takes a comma- or colon-separated list of languages preferred by the user, ordered
370 by descending priority. The
<varname>$LANG
</varname> and
<varname>$LANGUAGE
</varname> environment
371 variables are initialized from this value on login, and thus values suitible for these environment
372 variables are accepted here, for example
<option>--language=de_DE.UTF-
8</option>. This option may
373 be used more than once, in which case the language lists are concatenated.
</para>
375 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
379 <term><option>--ssh-authorized-keys=
</option><replaceable>KEYS
</replaceable></term>
380 <listitem><para>Either takes a SSH authorized key line to associate with the user record or a
381 <literal>@
</literal> character followed by a path to a file to read one or more such lines from. SSH
382 keys configured this way are made available to SSH to permit access to this home directory and user
383 record. This option may be used more than once to configure multiple SSH keys.
</para>
385 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
389 <term><option>--pkcs11-token-uri=
</option><replaceable>URI
</replaceable></term>
390 <listitem><para>Takes an RFC
7512 PKCS#
11 URI referencing a security token (e.g. YubiKey or PIV
391 smartcard) that shall be able to unlock the user account. The security token URI should reference a
392 security token with exactly one pair of X
.509 certificate and private key. A random secret key is
393 then generated, encrypted with the public key of the X
.509 certificate, and stored as part of the
394 user record. At login time it is decrypted with the PKCS#
11 module and then used to unlock the
395 account and associated resources. See below for an example how to set up authentication with a
396 security token.
</para>
398 <para>Instead of a valid PKCS#
11 URI, the special strings
<literal>list
</literal> and
399 <literal>auto
</literal> may be specified. If
<literal>list
</literal> is passed, a brief table of
400 suitable, currently plugged in PKCS#
11 hardware tokens is shown, along with their URIs. If
401 <literal>auto
</literal> is passed, a suitable PKCS#
11 hardware token is automatically selected (this
402 operation will fail if there isn't exactly one suitable token discovered). The latter is a useful
403 shortcut for the most common case where a single PKCS#
11 hardware token is plugged in.
</para>
405 <para>Note that many hardware security tokens implement both PKCS#
11/PIV and FIDO2 with the
406 <literal>hmac-secret
</literal> extension (for example: the YubiKey
5 series), as supported with the
407 <option>--fido2-device=
</option> option below. Both mechanisms are similarly powerful, though FIDO2
408 is the more modern technology. PKCS#
11/PIV tokens have the benefit of being recognizable before
409 authentication and hence can be used for implying the user identity to use for logging in, which
410 FIDO2 does not allow. PKCS#
11/PIV devices generally require initialization (i.e. storing a
411 private/public key pair on them, see example below) before they can be used; FIDO2 security tokens
412 generally do not required that, and work out of the box.
</para>
414 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
418 <term><option>--fido2-credential-algorithm=
</option><replaceable>STRING
</replaceable></term>
419 <listitem><para>Specify COSE algorithm used in credential generation. The default value is
420 <literal>es256
</literal>. Supported values are
<literal>es256
</literal>,
<literal>rs256
</literal>
421 and
<literal>eddsa
</literal>.
</para>
423 <para><literal>es256
</literal> denotes ECDSA over NIST P-
256 with SHA-
256.
<literal>rs256
</literal>
424 denotes
2048-bit RSA with PKCS#
1.5 padding and SHA-
256.
<literal>eddsa
</literal> denotes
425 EDDSA over Curve25519 with SHA-
512.
</para>
427 <para>Note that your authenticator may not support some algorithms.
</para>
429 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v251"/></listitem>
433 <term><option>--fido2-device=
</option><replaceable>PATH
</replaceable></term>
435 <listitem><para>Takes a path to a Linux
<literal>hidraw
</literal> device
436 (e.g.
<filename>/dev/hidraw1
</filename>), referring to a FIDO2 security token implementing the
437 <literal>hmac-secret
</literal> extension that shall be able to unlock the user account. A random salt
438 value is generated on the host and passed to the FIDO2 device, which calculates a HMAC hash of the
439 salt using an internal secret key. The result is then used as the key to unlock the user account. The
440 random salt is included in the user record, so that whenever authentication is needed it can be
441 passed to the FIDO2 token again.
</para>
443 <para>Instead of a valid path to a FIDO2
<literal>hidraw
</literal> device the special strings
444 <literal>list
</literal> and
<literal>auto
</literal> may be specified. If
<literal>list
</literal> is
445 passed, a brief table of suitable discovered FIDO2 devices is shown. If
<literal>auto
</literal> is
446 passed, a suitable FIDO2 token is automatically selected, if exactly one is discovered. The latter is
447 a useful shortcut for the most common case where a single FIDO2 hardware token is plugged in.
</para>
449 <para>Note that FIDO2 devices suitable for this option must implement the
450 <literal>hmac-secret
</literal> extension. Most current devices (such as the YubiKey
5 series) do. If
451 the extension is not implemented the device cannot be used for unlocking home directories.
</para>
453 <para>The FIDO2 device may be subsequently removed by setting the device path to an empty string
454 (e.g.
<command>homectl update $USER
--fido2-device=
""</command>).
</para>
456 <para>Note that many hardware security tokens implement both FIDO2 and PKCS#
11/PIV (and thus may be
457 used with either
<option>--fido2-device=
</option> or
<option>--pkcs11-token-uri=
</option>), for a
458 discussion see above.
</para>
460 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v246"/></listitem>
464 <term><option>--fido2-with-client-pin=
</option><replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></term>
466 <listitem><para>When enrolling a FIDO2 security token, controls whether to require the user to enter
467 a PIN when unlocking the account (the FIDO2
<literal>clientPin
</literal> feature). Defaults to
468 <literal>yes
</literal>. (Note: this setting is without effect if the security token does not support
469 the
<literal>clientPin
</literal> feature at all, or does not allow enabling or disabling
472 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v249"/></listitem>
476 <term><option>--fido2-with-user-presence=
</option><replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></term>
478 <listitem><para>When enrolling a FIDO2 security token, controls whether to require the user to
479 verify presence (tap the token, the FIDO2
<literal>up
</literal> feature) when unlocking the account.
480 Defaults to
<literal>yes
</literal>. (Note: this setting is without effect if the security token does not support
481 the
<literal>up
</literal> feature at all, or does not allow enabling or disabling it.)
484 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v249"/></listitem>
488 <term><option>--fido2-with-user-verification=
</option><replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></term>
490 <listitem><para>When enrolling a FIDO2 security token, controls whether to require user verification
491 when unlocking the account (the FIDO2
<literal>uv
</literal> feature). Defaults to
492 <literal>no
</literal>. (Note: this setting is without effect if the security token does not support
493 the
<literal>uv
</literal> feature at all, or does not allow enabling or disabling it.)
</para>
495 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v249"/></listitem>
499 <term><option>--recovery-key=
</option><replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></term>
501 <listitem><para>Accepts a boolean argument. If enabled a recovery key is configured for the
502 account. A recovery key is a computer generated access key that may be used to regain access to an
503 account if the password has been forgotten or the authentication token lost. The key is generated and
504 shown on screen, and should be printed or otherwise transferred to a secure location. A recovery key
505 may be entered instead of a regular password to unlock the account.
</para>
507 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v247"/></listitem>
511 <term><option>--blob=
</option><replaceable>PATH
</replaceable></term>
512 <term><option>-b
</option> <replaceable>PATH
</replaceable></term>
513 <term><option>--blob=
</option><replaceable>FILENAME
</replaceable>=
<replaceable>PATH
</replaceable></term>
514 <term><option>-b
</option> <replaceable>FILENAME
</replaceable>=
<replaceable>PATH
</replaceable></term>
516 <listitem><para>Accepts either a directory path, or a file name followed by a file path. If just a
517 directory path is specified, then the user's entire blob directory is replaced the specified path.
518 Note that this replacement is performed before per-file manipulations are applied, which means these per-file
519 manipulations will be applied on top of the specified directory. If a filename and file path are specified, then
520 the single specified blob file will be overwritten with the specified path. If completely blank, the entire blob
521 directory is emptied out (which also resets all previous blob-related flags up to this point). If a filename is
522 specified but the corresponding path is blank, that single file will be deleted from the blob directory. All changes
523 are performed in temporary copies of the specified files in directories, which means that the originals specified on
524 the command line are not modified. See
<ulink url=
"https://systemd.io/USER_RECORD_BLOB_DIRS">User Record Blob Directories
</ulink>
525 for more information about blob directories.
</para>
527 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v256"/></listitem>
531 <term><option>--avatar=
</option><replaceable>PATH
</replaceable></term>
532 <term><option>--login-background=
</option><replaceable>PATH
</replaceable></term>
534 <listitem><para>Accept a file path. If set, the specified file is used to overwrite the
535 corresponding file in the user's blob directory. If blank, the corresponding file is deleted
536 from the blob directory. Essentially, these options are shortcuts to
537 <option>--blob=
</option><replaceable>FILENAME
</replaceable>=
<replaceable>PATH
</replaceable>
538 for the known filenames defined in
539 <ulink url=
"https://systemd.io/USER_RECORD_BLOB_DIRS">User Record Blob Directories
</ulink>.
</para>
541 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v256"/></listitem>
545 <term><option>--locked=
</option><replaceable>BOOLEAN
</replaceable></term>
547 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. Specifies whether this user account shall be locked. If
548 true logins into this account are prohibited, if false (the default) they are permitted (of course,
549 only if authorization otherwise succeeds).
</para>
551 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
555 <term><option>--not-before=
</option><replaceable>TIMESTAMP
</replaceable></term>
556 <term><option>--not-after=
</option><replaceable>TIMESTAMP
</replaceable></term>
558 <listitem><para>These options take a timestamp string, in the format documented in
559 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.time
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry> and
560 configures points in time before and after logins into this account are not
563 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
567 <term><option>--rate-limit-interval=
</option><replaceable>SECS
</replaceable></term>
568 <term><option>--rate-limit-burst=
</option><replaceable>NUMBER
</replaceable></term>
570 <listitem><para>Configures a rate limit on authentication attempts for this user. If the user
571 attempts to authenticate more often than the specified number, on a specific system, within the
572 specified time interval authentication is refused until the time interval passes. Defaults to
10
573 times per
1min.
</para>
575 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
579 <term><option>--password-hint=
</option><replaceable>TEXT
</replaceable></term>
581 <listitem><para>Takes a password hint to store alongside the user record. This string is stored
582 accessible only to privileged users and the user itself and may not be queried by other users.
583 Example:
<option>--password-hint=
"My first pet's name"</option>.
</para>
585 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
589 <term><option>--enforce-password-policy=
</option><replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></term>
590 <term><option>-P
</option></term>
592 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. Configures whether to enforce the system's password policy
593 for this user, regarding quality and strength of selected passwords. Defaults to
594 on.
<option>-P
</option> is short for
595 <option>---enforce-password-policy=no
</option>.
</para>
597 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
601 <term><option>--password-change-now=
</option><replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></term>
603 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. If true the user is asked to change their password on next
606 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
610 <term><option>--password-change-min=
</option><replaceable>TIME
</replaceable></term>
611 <term><option>--password-change-max=
</option><replaceable>TIME
</replaceable></term>
612 <term><option>--password-change-warn=
</option><replaceable>TIME
</replaceable></term>
613 <term><option>--password-change-inactive=
</option><replaceable>TIME
</replaceable></term>
615 <listitem><para>Each of these options takes a time span specification as argument (in the syntax
617 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.time
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>) and
618 configures various aspects of the user's password expiration policy. Specifically,
619 <option>--password-change-min=
</option> configures how much time has to pass after changing the
620 password of the user until the password may be changed again. If the user tries to change their
621 password before this time passes the attempt is refused.
<option>--password-change-max=
</option>
622 configures how soon after it has been changed the password expires and needs to be changed again.
623 After this time passes logging in may only proceed after the password is changed.
624 <option>--password-change-warn=
</option> specifies how much earlier than then the time configured
625 with
<option>--password-change-max=
</option> the user is warned at login to change their password as
626 it will expire soon. Finally
<option>--password-change-inactive=
</option> configures the time which
627 has to pass after the password as expired until the user is not permitted to log in or change the
628 password anymore. Note that these options only apply to password authentication, and do not apply to
629 other forms of authentication, for example PKCS#
11-based security token
630 authentication.
</para>
632 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
636 <term><option>--disk-size=
</option><replaceable>BYTES
</replaceable></term>
637 <listitem><para>Either takes a size in bytes as argument (possibly using the usual K, M, G, …
638 suffixes for
1024 base values), a percentage value, or the special strings
<literal>min
</literal> or
639 <literal>max
</literal>, and configures the disk space to assign to the user. If a percentage value is
640 specified (i.e. the argument suffixed with
<literal>%
</literal>) it is taken relative to the
641 available disk space of the backing file system. If specified as
<literal>min
</literal> assigns the
642 minimal disk space permitted by the constraints of the backing file system and other limits, when
643 specified as
<literal>max
</literal> assigns the maximum disk space available. If the LUKS2 backend is
644 used this configures the size of the loopback file and file system contained therein. For the other
645 storage backends configures disk quota using the filesystem's native quota logic, if available. If
646 not specified, defaults to
85% of the available disk space for the LUKS2 backend and to no quota for
649 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
653 <term><option>--access-mode=
</option><replaceable>MODE
</replaceable></term>
655 <listitem><para>Takes a UNIX file access mode written in octal. Configures the access mode of the
656 home directory itself. Note that this is only used when the directory is first created, and the user
657 may change this any time afterwards. Example:
658 <option>--access-mode=
0700</option></para>
660 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
664 <term><option>--umask=
</option><replaceable>MASK
</replaceable></term>
666 <listitem><para>Takes the access mode mask (in octal syntax) to apply to newly created files and
667 directories of the user (
"umask"). If set this controls the initial umask set for all login sessions of
668 the user, possibly overriding the system's defaults.
</para>
670 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
674 <term><option>--nice=
</option><replaceable>NICE
</replaceable></term>
676 <listitem><para>Takes the numeric scheduling priority (
"nice level") to apply to the processes of the user at login
677 time. Takes a numeric value in the range -
20 (highest priority) to
19 (lowest priority).
</para>
679 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
683 <term><option>--rlimit=
</option><replaceable>LIMIT
</replaceable>=
<replaceable>VALUE
</replaceable><optional>:
<replaceable>VALUE
</replaceable></optional></term>
685 <listitem><para>Allows configuration of resource limits for processes of this user, see
<citerefentry
686 project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>getrlimit
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>
687 for details. Takes a resource limit name (e.g.
<literal>LIMIT_NOFILE
</literal>) followed by an equal
688 sign, followed by a numeric limit. Optionally, separated by colon a second numeric limit may be
689 specified. If two are specified this refers to the soft and hard limits, respectively. If only one
690 limit is specified the setting sets both limits in one.
</para>
692 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
696 <term><option>--tasks-max=
</option><replaceable>TASKS
</replaceable></term>
698 <listitem><para>Takes a non-zero unsigned integer as argument. Configures the maximum number of tasks
699 (i.e. threads, where each process is at least one thread) the user may have at any given time. This
700 limit applies to all tasks forked off the user's sessions, even if they change user identity via
701 <citerefentry project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>su
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
702 or a similar tool. Use
<option>--rlimit=LIMIT_NPROC=
</option> to place a limit on the tasks actually
703 running under the UID of the user, thus excluding any child processes that might have changed user
704 identity. This controls the
<varname>TasksMax=
</varname> setting of the per-user systemd slice unit
705 <filename>user-$UID.slice
</filename>. See
706 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.resource-control
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
707 for further details.
</para>
709 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
713 <term><option>--memory-high=
</option><replaceable>BYTES
</replaceable></term>
714 <term><option>--memory-max=
</option><replaceable>BYTES
</replaceable></term>
716 <listitem><para>Set a limit on the memory a user may take up on a system at any given time in bytes
717 (the usual K, M, G, … suffixes are supported, to the base of
1024). This includes all memory used by
718 the user itself and all processes they forked off that changed user credentials. This controls the
719 <varname>MemoryHigh=
</varname> and
<varname>MemoryMax=
</varname> settings of the per-user systemd
720 slice unit
<filename>user-$UID.slice
</filename>. See
721 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.resource-control
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
722 for further details.
</para>
724 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
728 <term><option>--cpu-weight=
</option><replaceable>WEIGHT
</replaceable></term>
729 <term><option>--io-weight=
</option><replaceable>WEIGHT
</replaceable></term>
731 <listitem><para>Set CPU and IO scheduling weights of the processes of the user, including those of
732 processes forked off by the user that changed user credentials. Takes a numeric value in the range
733 1…
10000. This controls the
<varname>CPUWeight=
</varname> and
<varname>IOWeight=
</varname> settings of
734 the per-user systemd slice unit
<filename>user-$UID.slice
</filename>. See
735 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.resource-control
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
736 for further details.
</para>
738 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
742 <term><option>--storage=
</option><replaceable>STORAGE
</replaceable></term>
744 <listitem><para>Selects the storage mechanism to use for this home directory. Takes one of
745 <literal>luks
</literal>,
<literal>fscrypt
</literal>,
<literal>directory
</literal>,
746 <literal>subvolume
</literal>,
<literal>cifs
</literal>. For details about these mechanisms, see
747 above. If a new home directory is created and the storage type is not specifically specified,
748 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>homed.conf
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
749 defines which default storage to use.
</para>
751 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
755 <term><option>--image-path=
</option><replaceable>PATH
</replaceable></term>
757 <listitem><para>Takes a file system path. Configures where to place the user's home directory. When
758 LUKS2 storage is used refers to the path to the loopback file, otherwise to the path to the home
759 directory (which may be in
<filename>/home/
</filename> or any other accessible filesystem). When
760 unspecified defaults to
<filename>/home/$USER.home
</filename> when LUKS storage is used and
761 <filename>/home/$USER.homedir
</filename> for the other storage mechanisms. Not defined for the
762 <literal>cifs
</literal> storage mechanism. To use LUKS2 storage on a regular block device (for
763 example a USB stick) pass the path to the block device here. Specifying the path to a directory here
764 when using LUKS2 storage is not allowed. Similar, specifying the path to a regular file or device
765 node is not allowed if any of the other storage backends are used.
</para>
767 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
771 <term><option>--drop-caches=
</option><replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></term>
773 <listitem><para>Automatically flush OS file system caches on logout. This is useful in combination
774 with the fscrypt storage backend to ensure the OS does not keep decrypted versions of the files and
775 directories in memory (and accessible) after logout. This option is also supported on other backends,
776 but should not bring any benefit there. Defaults to off, except if the selected storage backend is
777 fscrypt, where it defaults to on. Note that flushing OS caches will negatively influence performance
778 of the OS shortly after logout.
</para>
780 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v250"/></listitem>
784 <term><option>--fs-type=
</option><replaceable>TYPE
</replaceable></term>
786 <listitem><para>When LUKS2 storage is used configures the file system type to use inside the home
787 directory LUKS2 container. One of
<literal>btrfs
</literal>,
<literal>ext4
</literal>,
788 <literal>xfs
</literal>. If not specified
789 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>homed.conf
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
790 defines which default file system type to use. Note that
<literal>xfs
</literal> is not recommended as
791 its support for file system resizing is too limited.
</para>
793 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
797 <term><option>--luks-discard=
</option><replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></term>
799 <listitem><para>When LUKS2 storage is used configures whether to enable the
800 <literal>discard
</literal> feature of the file system. If enabled the file system on top of the LUKS2
801 volume will report empty block information to LUKS2 and the loopback file below, ensuring that empty
802 space in the home directory is returned to the backing file system below the LUKS2 volume, resulting
803 in a
"sparse" loopback file. This option mostly defaults to off, since this permits over-committing
804 home directories which results in I/O errors if the underlying file system runs full while the upper
805 file system wants to allocate a block. Such I/O errors are generally not handled well by file systems
806 nor applications. When LUKS2 storage is used on top of regular block devices (instead of on top a
807 loopback file) the discard logic defaults to on.
</para>
809 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
813 <term><option>--luks-offline-discard=
</option><replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></term>
815 <listitem><para>Similar to
<option>--luks-discard=
</option>, controls the trimming of the file
816 system. However, while
<option>--luks-discard=
</option> controls what happens when the home directory
817 is active,
<option>--luks-offline-discard=
</option> controls what happens when it becomes inactive,
818 i.e. whether to trim/allocate the storage when deactivating the home directory. This option defaults
819 to on, to ensure disk space is minimized while a user is not logged in.
</para>
821 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v246"/></listitem>
825 <term><option>--luks-extra-mount-options=
</option><replaceable>OPTIONS
</replaceable></term>
827 <listitem><para>Takes a string containing additional mount options to use when mounting the LUKS
828 volume. If specified, this string will be appended to the default, built-in mount
831 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v250"/></listitem>
835 <term><option>--luks-cipher=
</option><replaceable>CIPHER
</replaceable></term>
836 <term><option>--luks-cipher-mode=
</option><replaceable>MODE
</replaceable></term>
837 <term><option>--luks-volume-key-size=
</option><replaceable>BYTES
</replaceable></term>
838 <term><option>--luks-pbkdf-type=
</option><replaceable>TYPE
</replaceable></term>
839 <term><option>--luks-pbkdf-hash-algorithm=
</option><replaceable>ALGORITHM
</replaceable></term>
840 <term><option>--luks-pbkdf-force-iterations=
</option><replaceable>ITERATIONS
</replaceable></term>
841 <term><option>--luks-pbkdf-time-cost=
</option><replaceable>SECONDS
</replaceable></term>
842 <term><option>--luks-pbkdf-memory-cost=
</option><replaceable>BYTES
</replaceable></term>
843 <term><option>--luks-pbkdf-parallel-threads=
</option><replaceable>THREADS
</replaceable></term>
844 <term><option>--luks-sector-size=
</option><replaceable>BYTES
</replaceable></term>
846 <listitem><para>Configures various cryptographic parameters for the LUKS2 storage mechanism. See
848 project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>cryptsetup
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
849 for details on the specific attributes.
</para>
851 <para>Note that
<command>homectl
</command> uses bytes for key size, like
852 <filename>/proc/crypto
</filename>, but
<citerefentry
853 project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>cryptsetup
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
856 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
860 <term><option>--auto-resize-mode=
</option></term>
862 <listitem><para>Configures whether to automatically grow and/or shrink the backing file system on
863 login and logout. Takes one of the strings
<literal>off
</literal>,
<literal>grow
</literal>,
864 <literal>shrink-and-grow
</literal>. Only applies to the LUKS2 backend currently, and if the btrfs
865 file system is used inside it (since only then online growing/shrinking of the file system is
866 supported). Defaults to
<literal>shrink-and-grow
</literal>, if LUKS2/btrfs is used, otherwise is
867 off. If set to
<literal>off
</literal> no automatic shrinking/growing during login or logout is
868 done. If set to
<literal>grow
</literal> the home area is grown to the size configured via
869 <option>--disk-size=
</option> should it currently be smaller. If it already matches the configured
870 size or is larger no operation is executed. If set to
<literal>shrink-and-grow
</literal> the home
871 area is also resized during logout to the minimal size the used disk space and file system
872 constraints permit. This mode thus ensures that while a home area is activated it is sized to the
873 configured size, but while deactivated it is compacted taking up only the minimal space possible.
874 Note that if the system is powered off abnormally or if the user otherwise not logged out cleanly the
875 shrinking operation will not take place, and the user has to re-login/logout again before it is
876 executed again.
</para>
878 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v250"/></listitem>
882 <term><option>--rebalance-weight=
</option></term>
884 <listitem><para>Configures the weight parameter for the free disk space rebalancing logic. Only
885 applies to the LUKS2 backend (since for the LUKS2 backend disk space is allocated from a per-user
886 loopback file system instead of immediately from a common pool like the other backends do it). In
887 regular intervals free disk space in the active home areas and their backing storage is redistributed
888 among them, taking the weight value configured here into account. Expects an integer in the range
889 1…
10000, or the special string
<literal>off
</literal>. If not specified defaults to
100. The weight
890 is used to scale free space made available to the home areas: a home area with a weight of
200 will
891 get twice the free space as one with a weight of
100; a home area with a weight of
50 will get half
892 of that. The backing file system will be assigned space for a weight of
20. If set to
893 <literal>off
</literal> no automatic free space distribution is done for this home area. Note that
894 resizing the home area explicitly (with
<command>homectl resize
</command> see below) will implicitly
895 turn off the automatic rebalancing. To reenable the automatic rebalancing use
896 <option>--rebalance-weight=
</option> with an empty parameter.
</para>
898 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v250"/></listitem>
902 <term><option>--nosuid=
</option><replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></term>
903 <term><option>--nodev=
</option><replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></term>
904 <term><option>--noexec=
</option><replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></term>
906 <listitem><para>Configures the
<literal>nosuid
</literal>,
<literal>nodev
</literal> and
907 <literal>noexec
</literal> mount options for the home directories. By default
<literal>nodev
</literal>
908 and
<literal>nosuid
</literal> are on, while
<literal>noexec
</literal> is off. For details about these
909 mount options see
<citerefentry
910 project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>mount
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
</para>
912 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
916 <term><option>--cifs-domain=
</option><replaceable>DOMAIN
</replaceable></term>
917 <term><option>--cifs-user-name=
</option><replaceable>USER
</replaceable></term>
918 <term><option>--cifs-service=
</option><replaceable>SERVICE
</replaceable></term>
919 <term><option>--cifs-extra-mount-options=
</option><replaceable>OPTIONS
</replaceable></term>
921 <listitem><para>Configures the Windows File Sharing (CIFS) domain and user to associate with the home
922 directory/user account, as well as the file share (
"service") to mount as directory. The latter is
923 used when
<literal>cifs
</literal> storage is selected. The file share should be specified in format
924 <literal>//
<replaceable>host
</replaceable>/
<replaceable>share
</replaceable>/
<replaceable>directory/…
</replaceable></literal>. The
925 directory part is optional — if not specified the home directory will be placed in the top-level
926 directory of the share. The
<option>--cifs-extra-mount-options=
</option> setting allows specifying
927 additional mount options when mounting the share, see
<citerefentry
928 project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>mount.cifs
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
931 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
935 <term><option>--stop-delay=
</option><replaceable>SECS
</replaceable></term>
937 <listitem><para>Configures the time the per-user service manager shall continue to run after the all
938 sessions of the user ended. The default is configured in
939 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>logind.conf
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> (for
940 home directories of LUKS2 storage located on removable media this defaults to
0 though). A longer
941 time makes sure quick, repetitive logins are more efficient as the user's service manager doesn't
942 have to be started every time.
</para>
944 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
948 <term><option>--kill-processes=
</option><replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></term>
950 <listitem><para>Configures whether to kill all processes of the user on logout. The default is
952 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>logind.conf
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
</para>
954 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
958 <term><option>--auto-login=
</option><replaceable>BOOL
</replaceable></term>
960 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. Configures whether the graphical UI of the system should
961 automatically log this user in if possible. Defaults to off. If less or more than one user is marked
962 this way automatic login is disabled.
</para>
964 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
970 <title>Commands
</title>
972 <para>The following commands are understood:
</para>
977 <term><command>list
</command></term>
979 <listitem><para>List all home directories (along with brief details) currently managed by
980 <filename>systemd-homed.service
</filename>. This command is also executed if none is specified on the
981 command line. (Note that the list of users shown by this command does not include users managed by
982 other subsystems, such as system users or any traditional users listed in
983 <filename>/etc/passwd
</filename>.)
</para>
985 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
989 <term><command>activate
</command> <replaceable>USER
</replaceable> [
<replaceable>USER…
</replaceable>]
</term>
991 <listitem><para>Activate one or more home directories. The home directories of each listed user will
992 be activated and made available under their mount points (typically in
993 <filename>/home/$USER
</filename>). Note that any home activated this way stays active indefinitely,
994 until it is explicitly deactivated again (with
<command>deactivate
</command>, see below), or the user
995 logs in and out again and it thus is deactivated due to the automatic deactivation-on-logout
998 <para>Activation of a home directory involves various operations that depend on the selected storage
999 mechanism. If the LUKS2 mechanism is used, this generally involves: inquiring the user for a
1000 password, setting up a loopback device, validating and activating the LUKS2 volume, checking the file
1001 system, mounting the file system, and potentially changing the ownership of all included files to the
1002 correct UID/GID.
</para>
1004 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
1008 <term><command>deactivate
</command> <replaceable>USER
</replaceable> [
<replaceable>USER…
</replaceable>]
</term>
1010 <listitem><para>Deactivate one or more home directories. This undoes the effect of
1011 <command>activate
</command>.
</para>
1013 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
1017 <term><command>inspect
</command> <replaceable>USER
</replaceable> [
<replaceable>USER…
</replaceable>]
</term>
1019 <listitem><para>Show various details about the specified home directories. This shows various
1020 information about the home directory and its user account, including runtime data such as current
1021 state, disk use and similar. Combine with
<option>--json=
</option> to show the detailed JSON user
1022 record instead, possibly combined with
<option>--export-format=
</option> to suppress certain aspects
1023 of the output.
</para>
1025 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
1029 <term><command>authenticate
</command> <replaceable>USER
</replaceable> [
<replaceable>USER…
</replaceable>]
</term>
1031 <listitem><para>Validate authentication credentials of a home directory. This queries the caller for
1032 a password (or similar) and checks that it correctly unlocks the home directory. This leaves the home
1033 directory in the state it is in, i.e. it leaves the home directory in inactive state if it was
1034 inactive before, and in active state if it was active before.
</para>
1036 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
1040 <term><command>create
</command> <replaceable>USER
</replaceable></term>
1041 <term><command>create
</command> <option>--identity=
</option><replaceable>PATH
</replaceable> <optional><replaceable>USER
</replaceable></optional></term>
1043 <listitem><para>Create a new home directory/user account of the specified name. Use the various
1044 user record property options (as documented above) to control various aspects of the home directory
1045 and its user accounts.
</para>
1047 <para>The specified user name should follow the strict syntax described on
<ulink
1048 url=
"https://systemd.io/USER_NAMES">User/Group Name Syntax
</ulink>.
</para>
1050 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
1054 <term><command>remove
</command> <replaceable>USER
</replaceable></term>
1056 <listitem><para>Remove a home directory/user account. This will remove both the home directory's user
1057 record and the home directory itself, and thus delete all files and directories owned by the
1060 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
1064 <term><command>update
</command> <replaceable>USER
</replaceable></term>
1065 <term><command>update
</command> <option>--identity=
</option><replaceable>PATH
</replaceable> <optional><replaceable>USER
</replaceable></optional></term>
1067 <listitem><para>Update a home directory/user account. Use the various user record property options
1068 (as documented above) to make changes to the account, or alternatively provide a full, updated JSON
1069 user record via the
<option>--identity=
</option> option.
</para>
1071 <para>Note that changes to user records not signed by a cryptographic private key available locally
1072 are not permitted, unless
<option>--identity=
</option> is used with a user record that is already
1073 correctly signed by a recognized private key.
</para>
1075 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
1079 <term><command>passwd
</command> <replaceable>USER
</replaceable></term>
1081 <listitem><para>Change the password of the specified home directory/user account.
</para>
1083 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
1087 <term><command>resize
</command> <replaceable>USER
</replaceable> <replaceable>BYTES
</replaceable></term>
1089 <listitem><para>Change the disk space assigned to the specified home directory. If the LUKS2 storage
1090 mechanism is used this will automatically resize the loopback file and the file system contained
1091 within. Note that if
<literal>ext4
</literal> is used inside of the LUKS2 volume, it is necessary to
1092 deactivate the home directory before shrinking it (i.e the user has to log out). Growing can be done
1093 while the home directory is active. If
<literal>xfs
</literal> is used inside of the LUKS2 volume the
1094 home directory may not be shrunk whatsoever. On all three of
<literal>ext4
</literal>,
1095 <literal>xfs
</literal> and
<literal>btrfs
</literal> the home directory may be grown while the user is
1096 logged in, and on the latter also shrunk while the user is logged in. If the
1097 <literal>subvolume
</literal>,
<literal>directory
</literal>,
<literal>fscrypt
</literal> storage
1098 mechanisms are used, resizing will change file system quota. The size parameter may make use of the
1099 usual suffixes B, K, M, G, T (to the base of
1024). The special strings
<literal>min
</literal> and
1100 <literal>max
</literal> may be specified in place of a numeric size value, for minimizing or
1101 maximizing disk space assigned to the home area, taking constraints of the file system, disk usage inside
1102 the home area and on the backing storage into account.
</para>
1104 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
1108 <term><command>lock
</command> <replaceable>USER
</replaceable></term>
1110 <listitem><para>Temporarily suspend access to the user's home directory and remove any associated
1111 cryptographic keys from memory. Any attempts to access the user's home directory will stall until the
1112 home directory is unlocked again (i.e. re-authenticated). This functionality is primarily intended to
1113 be used during system suspend to make sure the user's data cannot be accessed until the user
1114 re-authenticates on resume. This operation is only defined for home directories that use the LUKS2
1115 storage mechanism.
</para>
1117 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
1121 <term><command>unlock
</command> <replaceable>USER
</replaceable></term>
1123 <listitem><para>Resume access to the user's home directory again, undoing the effect of
1124 <command>lock
</command> above. This requires authentication of the user, as the cryptographic keys
1125 required for access to the home directory need to be reacquired.
</para>
1127 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
1131 <term><command>lock-all
</command></term>
1133 <listitem><para>Execute the
<command>lock
</command> command on all suitable home directories at
1134 once. This operation is generally executed on system suspend (i.e. by
<command>systemctl
1135 suspend
</command> and related commands), to ensure all active user's cryptographic keys for accessing
1136 their home directories are removed from memory.
</para>
1138 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
1142 <term><command>deactivate-all
</command></term>
1144 <listitem><para>Execute the
<command>deactivate
</command> command on all active home directories at
1145 once. This operation is generally executed on system shut down (i.e. by
<command>systemctl
1146 poweroff
</command> and related commands), to ensure all active user's home directories are fully
1147 deactivated before
<filename>/home/
</filename> and related file systems are unmounted.
</para>
1149 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v247"/></listitem>
1153 <term><command>with
</command> <replaceable>USER
</replaceable> <replaceable>COMMAND…
</replaceable></term>
1155 <listitem><para>Activate the specified user's home directory, run the specified command (under the
1156 caller's identity, not the specified user's) and deactivate the home directory afterwards again
1157 (unless the user is logged in otherwise). This command is useful for running privileged backup
1158 scripts and such, but requires authentication with the user's credentials in order to be able to
1159 unlock the user's home directory.
</para>
1161 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v245"/></listitem>
1165 <term><command>rebalance
</command></term>
1167 <listitem><para>Rebalance free disk space between active home areas and the backing storage. See
1168 <option>--rebalance-weight=
</option> above. This executes no operation unless there's at least one
1169 active LUKS2 home area that has disk space rebalancing enabled. This operation is synchronous: it
1170 will only complete once disk space is rebalanced according to the rebalancing weights. Note that
1171 rebalancing also takes place automatically in the background in regular intervals. Use this command
1172 to synchronously ensure disk space is properly redistributed before initiating an operation requiring
1173 large amounts of disk space.
</para>
1175 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v250"/></listitem>
1179 <term><command>firstboot
</command></term>
1181 <listitem><para>This command is supposed to be invoked during the initial boot of the system. It
1182 checks whether any regular home area exists so far, and if not queries the user interactively on the
1183 console for user name and password and creates one. Alternatively, if one or more service credentials
1184 whose name starts with
<literal>home.create.
</literal> are passed to the command (containing a user
1185 record in JSON format) these users are automatically created at boot.
</para>
1187 <para>This command is invoked by the
<filename>systemd-homed-firstboot.service
</filename> service
1190 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v256"/></listitem>
1196 <title>Credentials
</title>
1198 <para>When invoked with the
<command>firstboot
</command> command,
<command>homectl
</command> supports the
1199 service credentials logic as implemented by
1200 <varname>ImportCredential=
</varname>/
<varname>LoadCredential=
</varname>/
<varname>SetCredential=
</varname>
1201 (see
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
1202 details). The following credentials are used when passed in:
</para>
1204 <variablelist class='system-credentials'
>
1206 <term><varname>home.create.*
</varname></term>
1208 <listitem><para>If one or more credentials whose names begin with
<literal>home.create.
</literal>,
1209 followed by a valid UNIX username are passed, a new home area is created, one for each specified user
1212 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v256"/></listitem>
1218 <title>Kernel Command Line
</title>
1220 <variablelist class='kernel-commandline-options'
>
1222 <term><varname>systemd.firstboot=
</varname></term>
1224 <listitem><para>This boolean will disable the effect of
<command>homectl firstboot
</command>
1225 command. It's primarily interpreted by
1226 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-firstboot
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
</para>
1228 <xi:include href=
"version-info.xml" xpointer=
"v256"/></listitem>
1234 <title>Exit status
</title>
1236 <para>On success,
0 is returned, a non-zero failure code otherwise.
</para>
1238 <para>When a command is invoked with
<command>with
</command>, the exit status of the child is
1239 propagated. Effectively,
<command>homectl
</command> will exit without error if the command is
1240 successfully invoked
<emphasis>and
</emphasis> finishes successfully.
</para>
1243 <xi:include href=
"common-variables.xml" />
1246 <title>Examples
</title>
1249 <title>Create a user
<literal>waldo
</literal> in the administrator group
<literal>wheel
</literal>, and
1250 assign
500 MiB disk space to them.
</title>
1252 <programlisting>homectl create waldo
--real-name=
"Waldo McWaldo" -G wheel --disk-size=
500M
</programlisting>
1256 <title>Create a user
<literal>wally
</literal> on a USB stick, and assign a maximum of
500 concurrent
1257 tasks to them.
</title>
1259 <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>
1263 <title>Change nice level of user
<literal>odlaw
</literal> to +
5 and make sure the environment variable
1264 <varname>$SOME
</varname> is set to the string
<literal>THING
</literal> for them on login.
</title>
1266 <programlisting>homectl update odlaw --nice=
5 --setenv=SOME=THING
</programlisting>
1270 <title>Set up authentication with a YubiKey security token using PKCS#
11/PIV:
</title>
1272 <programlisting># Clear the Yubikey from any old keys (careful!)
1275 # Generate a new private/public key pair on the device, store the public key in 'pubkey.pem'.
1276 ykman piv generate-key -a RSA2048
9d pubkey.pem
1278 # Create a self-signed certificate from this public key, and store it on the device.
1279 ykman piv generate-certificate --subject
"Knobelei" 9d pubkey.pem
1281 # We don't need the public key on disk anymore
1284 # Allow the security token to unlock the account of user 'lafcadio'.
1285 homectl update lafcadio --pkcs11-token-uri=auto
</programlisting>
1289 <title>Set up authentication with a FIDO2 security token:
</title>
1291 <programlisting># Allow a FIDO2 security token to unlock the account of user 'nihilbaxter'.
1292 homectl update nihilbaxter --fido2-device=auto
</programlisting>
1297 <title>See Also
</title>
1298 <para><simplelist type=
"inline">
1299 <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
1300 <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-homed.service
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
1301 <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>homed.conf
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
1302 <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>userdbctl
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
1303 <member><citerefentry project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>useradd
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
1304 <member><citerefentry project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>cryptsetup
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
1305 </simplelist></para>