1HOMECTL(1) homectl HOMECTL(1)
2
6 homectl - Create, remove, change or inspect home directories
7
9 homectl [OPTIONS...] {COMMAND} [NAME...]
10
12 homectl may be used to create, remove, change or inspect a user's home
13 directory. It's primarily a command interfacing with systemd-
14 homed.service(8) which manages home directories of users.
15 Home directories managed by systemd-homed.service are self-contained,
17 and thus include the user's full metadata record in the home's data
18 storage itself, making them easy to migrate between machines. In
19 particular, a home directory describes a matching user record, and
20 every user record managed by systemd-homed.service also implies
21 existence and encapsulation of a home directory. The user account and
22 home directory become the same concept.
23 The following backing storage mechanisms are supported:
25 • An individual LUKS2 encrypted loopback file for a user, stored in
27 /home/*.home. At login the file system contained in this files is
28 mounted, after the LUKS2 encrypted volume has been attached. The
29 user's password is identical to the encryption passphrase of the
30 LUKS2 volume. Access to data without preceding user authentication
31 is thus not possible, even for the system administrator. This
32 storage mechanism provides the strongest data security and is thus
33 recommended.
34 • Similar, but the LUKS2 encrypted file system is located on regular
36 block device, such as an USB storage stick. In this mode home
37 directories and all data they include are nicely migratable between
38 machines, simply by plugging the USB stick into different systems
39 at different times.
40 • An encrypted directory using "fscrypt" on file systems that support
42 it (at the moment this is primarily "ext4"), located in
43 /home/*.homedir. This mechanism also provides encryption, but
44 substantially weaker than LUKS2, as most file system metadata is
45 unprotected. Moreover it currently does not support changing user
46 passwords once the home directory has been created.
47 • A "btrfs" subvolume for each user, also located in /home/*.homedir.
49 This provides no encryption, but good quota support.
50 • A regular directory for each user, also located in /home/*.homedir.
52 This provides no encryption, but is a suitable fallback available
53 on all machines, even where LUKS2, "fscrypt" or "btrfs" support is
54 not available.
55 • An individual Windows file share (CIFS) for each user.
57 Note that systemd-homed.service and homectl will not manage "classic"
59 UNIX user accounts as created with useradd(8) or similar tools. In
60 particular, this functionality is not suitable for managing system
61 users (i.e. users with a UID below 1000) but is exclusive to regular
62 ("human") users.
63 Note that users/home directories managed via systemd-homed.service do
65 not show up in /etc/passwd and similar files, they are synthesized via
66 glibc NSS during runtime. They are thus resolvable and may be
67 enumerated via the getent(1) tool.
68 This tool interfaces directly with systemd-homed.service, and may
70 execute specific commands on the home directories it manages. Since
71 every home directory managed that way also defines a JSON user and
72 group record these home directories may also be inspected and
73 enumerated via userdbctl(1).
74 Home directories managed by systemd-homed.service are usually in one of
76 two states, or in a transition state between them: when "active" they
77 are unlocked and mounted, and thus accessible to the system and its
78 programs; when "inactive" they are not mounted and thus not accessible.
79 Activation happens automatically at login of the user and usually can
80 only complete after a password (or other authentication token) has been
81 supplied. Deactivation happens after the user fully logged out. A home
82 directory remains active as long as the user is logged in at least
83 once, i.e. has at least one login session. When the user logs in a
84 second time simultaneously the home directory remains active. It is
85 deactivated only after the last of the user's sessions ends.
86
88 The following general options are understood (further options that
89 control the various properties of user records managed by
90 systemd-homed.service are documented further down):
91 --identity=FILE
93 Read the user's JSON record from the specified file. If passed as
94 "-" read the user record from standard input. The supplied JSON
95 object must follow the structure documented in JSON User
96 Records[1]. This option may be used in conjunction with the create
97 and update commands (see below), where it allows configuring the
98 user record in JSON as-is, instead of setting the individual user
99 record properties (see below).
100 --json=FORMAT, -J
102 Controls whether to output the user record in JSON format, if the
103 inspect command (see below) is used. Takes one of "pretty", "short"
104 or "off". If "pretty" human-friendly whitespace and newlines are
105 inserted in the output to make the JSON data more readable. If
106 "short" all superfluous whitespace is suppressed. If "off" (the
107 default) the user information is not shown in JSON format but in a
108 friendly human readable formatting instead. The -J option picks
109 "pretty" when run interactively and "short" otherwise.
110 --export-format=FORMAT, -E, -EE
112 When used with the inspect verb in JSON mode (see above) may be
113 used to suppress certain aspects of the JSON user record on output.
114 Specifically, if "stripped" format is used the binding and runtime
115 fields of the record are removed. If "minimal" format is used the
116 cryptographic signature is removed too. If "full" format is used
117 the full JSON record is shown (this is the default). This option is
118 useful for copying an existing user record to a different system in
119 order to create a similar user there with the same settings.
120 Specifically: homectl inspect -EE | ssh root@othersystem homectl
121 create -i- may be used as simple command line for replicating a
122 user on another host. -E is equivalent to -j
123 --export-format=stripped, -EE to -j --export-format=minimal. Note
124 that when replicating user accounts user records acquired in
125 "stripped" mode will retain the original cryptographic signatures
126 and thus may only be modified when the private key to update them
127 is available on the destination machine. When replicating users in
128 "minimal" mode, the signature is removed during the replication and
129 thus the record will be implicitly signed with the key of the
130 destination machine and may be updated there without any private
131 key replication.
132 -H, --host=
134 Execute the operation remotely. Specify a hostname, or a username
135 and hostname separated by "@", to connect to. The hostname may
136 optionally be suffixed by a port ssh is listening on, separated by
137 ":", and then a container name, separated by "/", which connects
138 directly to a specific container on the specified host. This will
139 use SSH to talk to the remote machine manager instance. Container
140 names may be enumerated with machinectl -H HOST. Put IPv6 addresses
141 in brackets.
142 -M, --machine=
144 Execute operation on a local container. Specify a container name to
145 connect to, optionally prefixed by a user name to connect as and a
146 separating "@" character. If the special string ".host" is used in
147 place of the container name, a connection to the local system is
148 made (which is useful to connect to a specific user's user bus:
149 "--user --machine=lennart@.host"). If the "@" syntax is not used,
150 the connection is made as root user. If the "@" syntax is used
151 either the left hand side or the right hand side may be omitted
152 (but not both) in which case the local user name and ".host" are
153 implied.
154 --no-pager
156 Do not pipe output into a pager.
157 --no-legend
159 Do not print the legend, i.e. column headers and the footer with
160 hints.
161 --no-ask-password
163 Do not query the user for authentication for privileged operations.
164 -h, --help
166 Print a short help text and exit.
167 --version
169 Print a short version string and exit.
170
172 The following options control various properties of the user
173 records/home directories that systemd-homed.service manages. These
174 switches may be used in conjunction with the create and update commands
175 for configuring various aspects of the home directory and the user
176 account:
177 --real-name=NAME, -c NAME
179 The real name for the user. This corresponds with the GECOS field
180 on classic UNIX NSS records.
181 --realm=REALM
183 The realm for the user. The realm associates a user with a specific
184 organization or installation, and allows distinguishing users of
185 the same name defined in different contexts. The realm can be any
186 string that also qualifies as valid DNS domain name, and it is
187 recommended to use the organization's or installation's domain name
188 for this purpose, but this is not enforced nor required. On each
189 system only a single user of the same name may exist, and if a user
190 with the same name and realm is seen it is assumed to refer to the
191 same user while a user with the same name but different realm is
192 considered a different user. Note that this means that two users
193 sharing the same name but with distinct realms are not allowed on
194 the same system. Assigning a realm to a user is optional.
195 --email-address=EMAIL
197 Takes an electronic mail address to associate with the user. On
198 log-in the $EMAIL environment variable is initialized from this
199 value.
200 --location=TEXT
202 Takes location specification for this user. This is free-form text,
203 which might or might not be usable by geo-location applications.
204 Example: --location="Berlin, Germany" or --location="Basement, Room
205 3a"
206 --icon-name=ICON
208 Takes an icon name to associate with the user, following the scheme
209 defined by the Icon Naming Specification[2].
210 --home-dir=PATH, -dPATH
212 Takes a path to use as home directory for the user. Note that this
213 is the directory the user's home directory is mounted to while the
214 user is logged in. This is not where the user's data is actually
215 stored, see --image-path= for that. If not specified defaults to
216 /home/$USER.
217 --uid=UID
219 Takes a preferred numeric UNIX UID to assign this user. If a user
220 is to be created with the specified UID and it is already taken by
221 a different user on the local system then creation of the home
222 directory is refused. Note though, if after creating the home
223 directory it is used on a different system and the configured UID
224 is taken by another user there, then systemd-homed may assign the
225 user a different UID on that system. The specified UID must be
226 outside of the system user range. It is recommended to use the
227 60001...60513 UID range for this purpose. If not specified, the UID
228 is automatically picked. If the home directory is found to be owned
229 by a different UID when logging in, the home directory and
230 everything underneath it will have its ownership changed
231 automatically before login completes.
232 Note that users managed by systemd-homed always have a matching
234 group associated with the same name as well as a GID matching the
235 UID of the user. Thus, configuring the GID separately is not
236 permitted.
237 --member-of=GROUP, -G GROUP
239 Takes a comma-separated list of auxiliary UNIX groups this user
240 shall belong to. Example: --member-of=wheel to provide the user
241 with administrator privileges. Note that systemd-homed does not
242 manage any groups besides a group matching the user in name and
243 numeric UID/GID. Thus any groups listed here must be registered
244 independently, for example with groupadd(8). Any non-existent
245 groups are ignored. This option may be used more than once, in
246 which case all specified group lists are combined. If the user is
247 currently a member of a group which is not listed, the user will be
248 removed from the group.
249 --skel=PATH
251 Takes a file system path to a directory. Specifies the skeleton
252 directory to initialize the home directory with. All files and
253 directories in the specified path are copied into any newly create
254 home directory. If not specified defaults to /etc/skel/.
255 --shell=SHELL
257 Takes a file system path. Specifies the shell binary to execute on
258 terminal logins. If not specified defaults to /bin/bash.
259 --setenv=VARIABLE=VALUE
261 Takes an environment variable assignment to set for all user
262 processes. Note that a number of other settings also result in
263 environment variables to be set for the user, including --email=,
264 --timezone= and --language=. May be used multiple times to set
265 multiple environment variables.
266 --timezone=TIMEZONE
268 Takes a time zone location name that sets the timezone for the
269 specified user. When the user logs in the $TZ environment variable
270 is initialized from this setting. Example:
271 --timezone=Europe/Amsterdam will result in the environment variable
272 "TZ=:Europe/Amsterdam". (":" is used intentionally as part of the
273 timezone specification, see tzset(3).)
274 --language=LANG
276 Takes a specifier indicating the preferred language of the user.
277 The $LANG environment variable is initialized from this value on
278 login, and thus a value suitable for this environment variable is
279 accepted here, for example --language=de_DE.UTF8.
280 --ssh-authorized-keys=KEYS
282 Either takes a SSH authorized key line to associate with the user
283 record or a "@" character followed by a path to a file to read one
284 or more such lines from. SSH keys configured this way are made
285 available to SSH to permit access to this home directory and user
286 record. This option may be used more than once to configure
287 multiple SSH keys.
288 --pkcs11-token-uri=URI
290 Takes an RFC 7512 PKCS#11 URI referencing a security token (e.g.
291 YubiKey or PIV smartcard) that shall be able to unlock the user
292 account. The security token URI should reference a security token
293 with exactly one pair of X.509 certificate and private key. A
294 random secret key is then generated, encrypted with the public key
295 of the X.509 certificate, and stored as part of the user record. At
296 login time it is decrypted with the PKCS#11 module and then used to
297 unlock the account and associated resources. See below for an
298 example how to set up authentication with a security token.
299 Instead of a valid PKCS#11 URI, the special strings "list" and
301 "auto" may be specified. If "list" is passed, a brief table of
302 suitable, currently plugged in PKCS#11 hardware tokens is shown,
303 along with their URIs. If "auto" is passed, a suitable PKCS#11
304 hardware token is automatically selected (this operation will fail
305 if there isn't exactly one suitable token discovered). The latter
306 is a useful shortcut for the most common case where a single
307 PKCS#11 hardware token is plugged in.
308 Note that many hardware security tokens implement both PKCS#11/PIV
310 and FIDO2 with the "hmac-secret" extension (for example: the
311 YubiKey 5 series), as supported with the --fido2-device= option
312 below. Both mechanisms are similarly powerful, though FIDO2 is the
313 more modern technology. PKCS#11/PIV tokens have the benefit of
314 being recognizable before authentication and hence can be used for
315 implying the user identity to use for logging in, which FIDO2 does
316 not allow. PKCS#11/PIV devices generally require initialization
317 (i.e. storing a private/public key pair on them, see example below)
318 before they can be used; FIDO2 security tokens generally do not
319 required that, and work out of the box.
320 --fido2-device=PATH
322 Takes a path to a Linux "hidraw" device (e.g. /dev/hidraw1),
323 referring to a FIDO2 security token implementing the "hmac-secret"
324 extension that shall be able to unlock the user account. A random
325 salt value is generated on the host and passed to the FIDO2 device,
326 which calculates a HMAC hash of the salt using an internal secret
327 key. The result is then used as the key to unlock the user account.
328 The random salt is included in the user record, so that whenever
329 authentication is needed it can be passed to the FIDO2 token again.
330 Instead of a valid path to a FIDO2 "hidraw" device the special
332 strings "list" and "auto" may be specified. If "list" is passed, a
333 brief table of suitable discovered FIDO2 devices is shown. If
334 "auto" is passed, a suitable FIDO2 token is automatically selected,
335 if exactly one is discovered. The latter is a useful shortcut for
336 the most common case where a single FIDO2 hardware token is plugged
337 in.
338 Note that FIDO2 devices suitable for this option must implement the
340 "hmac-secret" extension. Most current devices (such as the YubiKey
341 5 series) do. If the extension is not implemented the device cannot
342 be used for unlocking home directories.
343 Note that many hardware security tokens implement both FIDO2 and
345 PKCS#11/PIV (and thus may be used with either --fido2-device= or
346 --pkcs11-token-uri=), for a discussion see above.
347 --fido2-with-client-pin=BOOL
349 When enrolling a FIDO2 security token, controls whether to require
350 the user to enter a PIN when unlocking the account (the FIDO2
351 "clientPin" feature). Defaults to "yes". (Note: this setting is
352 without effect if the security token does not support the
353 "clientPin" feature at all, or does not allow enabling or disabling
354 it.)
355 --fido2-with-user-presence=BOOL
357 When enrolling a FIDO2 security token, controls whether to require
358 the user to verify presence (tap the token, the FIDO2 "up" feature)
359 when unlocking the account. Defaults to "yes". (Note: this setting
360 is without effect if the security token does not support the "up"
361 feature at all, or does not allow enabling or disabling it.)
362 --fido2-with-user-verification=BOOL
364 When enrolling a FIDO2 security token, controls whether to require
365 user verification when unlocking the account (the FIDO2 "uv"
366 feature). Defaults to "no". (Note: this setting is without effect
367 if the security token does not support the "uv" feature at all, or
368 does not allow enabling or disabling it.)
369 --recovery-key=BOOL
371 Accepts a boolean argument. If enabled a recovery key is configured
372 for the account. A recovery key is a computer generated access key
373 that may be used to regain access to an account if the password has
374 been forgotten or the authentication token lost. The key is
375 generated and shown on screen, and should be printed or otherwise
376 transferred to a secure location. A recovery key may be entered
377 instead of a regular password to unlock the account.
378 --locked=BOOLEAN
380 Takes a boolean argument. Specifies whether this user account shall
381 be locked. If true logins into this account are prohibited, if
382 false (the default) they are permitted (of course, only if
383 authorization otherwise succeeds).
384 --not-before=TIMESTAMP, --not-after=TIMESTAMP
386 These options take a timestamp string, in the format documented in
387 systemd.time(7) and configures points in time before and after
388 logins into this account are not permitted.
389 --rate-limit-interval=SECS, --rate-limit-burst=NUMBER
391 Configures a rate limit on authentication attempts for this user.
392 If the user attempts to authenticate more often than the specified
393 number, on a specific system, within the specified time interval
394 authentication is refused until the time interval passes. Defaults
395 to 10 times per 1min.
396 --password-hint=TEXT
398 Takes a password hint to store alongside the user record. This
399 string is stored accessible only to privileged users and the user
400 itself and may not be queried by other users. Example:
401 --password-hint="My first pet's name".
402 --enforce-password-policy=BOOL, -P
404 Takes a boolean argument. Configures whether to enforce the
405 system's password policy for this user, regarding quality and
406 strength of selected passwords. Defaults to on. -P is short for
407 ---enforce-password-policy=no.
408 --password-change-now=BOOL
410 Takes a boolean argument. If true the user is asked to change their
411 password on next login.
412 --password-change-min=TIME, --password-change-max=TIME,
414 --password-change-warn=TIME, --password-change-inactive=TIME
415 Each of these options takes a time span specification as argument
416 (in the syntax documented in systemd.time(7)) and configures
417 various aspects of the user's password expiration policy.
418 Specifically, --password-change-min= configures how much time has
419 to pass after changing the password of the user until the password
420 may be changed again. If the user tries to change their password
421 before this time passes the attempt is refused.
422 --password-change-max= configures how soon after it has been
423 changed the password expires and needs to be changed again. After
424 this time passes logging in may only proceed after the password is
425 changed. --password-change-warn= specifies how much earlier than
426 then the time configured with --password-change-max= the user is
427 warned at login to change their password as it will expire soon.
428 Finally --password-change-inactive= configures the time which has
429 to pass after the password as expired until the user is not
430 permitted to log in or change the password anymore. Note that these
431 options only apply to password authentication, and do not apply to
432 other forms of authentication, for example PKCS#11-based security
433 token authentication.
434 --disk-size=BYTES
436 Either takes a size in bytes as argument (possibly using the usual
437 K, M, G, ... suffixes for 1024 base values), or a percentage value
438 and configures the disk space to assign to the user. If a
439 percentage value is specified (i.e. the argument suffixed with "%")
440 it is taken relative to the available disk space of the backing
441 file system. If the LUKS2 backend is used this configures the size
442 of the loopback file and file system contained therein. For the
443 other storage backends configures disk quota using the filesystem's
444 native quota logic, if available. If not specified, defaults to 85%
445 of the available disk space for the LUKS2 backend and to no quota
446 for the others.
447 --access-mode=MODE
449 Takes a UNIX file access mode written in octal. Configures the
450 access mode of the home directory itself. Note that this is only
451 used when the directory is first created, and the user may change
452 this any time afterwards. Example: --access-mode=0700
453 --umask=MASK
455 Takes the access mode mask (in octal syntax) to apply to newly
456 created files and directories of the user ("umask"). If set this
457 controls the initial umask set for all login sessions of the user,
458 possibly overriding the system's defaults.
459 --nice=NICE
461 Takes the numeric scheduling priority ("nice level") to apply to
462 the processes of the user at login time. Takes a numeric value in
463 the range -20 (highest priority) to 19 (lowest priority).
464 --rlimit=LIMIT=VALUE[:VALUE]
466 Allows configuration of resource limits for processes of this user,
467 see getrlimit(2) for details. Takes a resource limit name (e.g.
468 "LIMIT_NOFILE") followed by an equal sign, followed by a numeric
469 limit. Optionally, separated by colon a second numeric limit may be
470 specified. If two are specified this refers to the soft and hard
471 limits, respectively. If only one limit is specified the setting
472 sets both limits in one.
473 --tasks-max=TASKS
475 Takes a non-zero unsigned integer as argument. Configures the
476 maximum number of tasks (i.e. threads, where each process is at
477 least one thread) the user may have at any given time. This limit
478 applies to all tasks forked off the user's sessions, even if they
479 change user identity via su(1) or a similar tool. Use
480 --rlimit=LIMIT_NPROC= to place a limit on the tasks actually
481 running under the UID of the user, thus excluding any child
482 processes that might have changed user identity. This controls the
483 TasksMax= setting of the per-user systemd slice unit
484 user-$UID.slice. See systemd.resource-control(5) for further
485 details.
486 --memory-high=BYTES, --memory-max=BYTES
488 Set a limit on the memory a user may take up on a system at any
489 given time in bytes (the usual K, M, G, ... suffixes are supported,
490 to the base of 1024). This includes all memory used by the user
491 itself and all processes they forked off that changed user
492 credentials. This controls the MemoryHigh= and MemoryMax= settings
493 of the per-user systemd slice unit user-$UID.slice. See
494 systemd.resource-control(5) for further details.
495 --cpu-weight=WEIGHT, --io-weight=WEIGHT
497 Set CPU and IO scheduling weights of the processes of the user,
498 including those of processes forked off by the user that changed
499 user credentials. Takes a numeric value in the range 1...10000.
500 This controls the CPUWeight= and IOWeight= settings of the per-user
501 systemd slice unit user-$UID.slice. See systemd.resource-control(5)
502 for further details.
503 --storage=STORAGE
505 Selects the storage mechanism to use for this home directory. Takes
506 one of "luks", "fscrypt", "directory", "subvolume", "cifs". For
507 details about these mechanisms, see above. If a new home directory
508 is created and the storage type is not specifically specified,
509 homed.conf(5) defines which default storage to use.
510 --image-path=PATH
512 Takes a file system path. Configures where to place the user's home
513 directory. When LUKS2 storage is used refers to the path to the
514 loopback file, otherwise to the path to the home directory (which
515 may be in /home/ or any other accessible filesystem). When
516 unspecified defaults to /home/$USER.home when LUKS storage is used
517 and /home/$USER.homedir for the other storage mechanisms. Not
518 defined for the "cifs" storage mechanism. To use LUKS2 storage on a
519 regular block device (for example a USB stick) pass the path to the
520 block device here. Specifying the path to a directory here when
521 using LUKS2 storage is not allowed. Similar, specifying the path to
522 a regular file or device node is not allowed if any of the other
523 storage backends are used.
524 --fs-type=TYPE
526 When LUKS2 storage is used configures the file system type to use
527 inside the home directory LUKS2 container. One of "btrfs", "ext4",
528 "xfs". If not specified homed.conf(5) defines which default file
529 system type to use. Note that "xfs" is not recommended as its
530 support for file system resizing is too limited.
531 --luks-discard=BOOL
533 When LUKS2 storage is used configures whether to enable the
534 "discard" feature of the file system. If enabled the file system on
535 top of the LUKS2 volume will report empty block information to
536 LUKS2 and the loopback file below, ensuring that empty space in the
537 home directory is returned to the backing file system below the
538 LUKS2 volume, resulting in a "sparse" loopback file. This option
539 mostly defaults to off, since this permits over-committing home
540 directories which results in I/O errors if the underlying file
541 system runs full while the upper file system wants to allocate a
542 block. Such I/O errors are generally not handled well by file
543 systems nor applications. When LUKS2 storage is used on top of
544 regular block devices (instead of on top a loopback file) the
545 discard logic defaults to on.
546 --luks-offline-discard=BOOL
548 Similar to --luks-discard=, controls the trimming of the file
549 system. However, while --luks-discard= controls what happens when
550 the home directory is active, --luks-offline-discard= controls what
551 happens when it becomes inactive, i.e. whether to trim/allocate the
552 storage when deactivating the home directory. This option defaults
553 to on, to ensure disk space is minimized while a user is not logged
554 in.
555 --luks-cipher=CIPHER, --luks-cipher-mode=MODE,
557 --luks-volume-key-size=BITS, --luks-pbkdf-type=TYPE,
558 --luks-pbkdf-hash-algorithm=ALGORITHM, --luks-pbkdf-time-cost=SECONDS,
559 --luks-pbkdf-memory-cost=BYTES, --luks-pbkdf-parallel-threads=THREADS
560 Configures various cryptographic parameters for the LUKS2 storage
561 mechanism. See cryptsetup(8) for details on the specific
562 attributes.
563 --nosuid=BOOL, --nodev=BOOL, --noexec=BOOL
565 Configures the "nosuid", "nodev" and "noexec" mount options for the
566 home directories. By default "nodev" and "nosuid" are on, while
567 "noexec" is off. For details about these mount options see
568 mount(8).
569 --cifs-domain=DOMAIN, --cifs-user-name=USER, --cifs-service=SERVICE
571 Configures the Windows File Sharing (CIFS) domain and user to
572 associate with the home directory/user account, as well as the file
573 share ("service") to mount as directory. The latter is used when
574 "cifs" storage is selected.
575 --stop-delay=SECS
577 Configures the time the per-user service manager shall continue to
578 run after the all sessions of the user ended. The default is
579 configured in logind.conf(5) (for home directories of LUKS2 storage
580 located on removable media this defaults to 0 though). A longer
581 time makes sure quick, repetitive logins are more efficient as the
582 user's service manager doesn't have to be started every time.
583 --kill-processes=BOOL
585 Configures whether to kill all processes of the user on logout. The
586 default is configured in logind.conf(5).
587 --auto-login=BOOL
589 Takes a boolean argument. Configures whether the graphical UI of
590 the system should automatically log this user in if possible.
591 Defaults to off. If less or more than one user is marked this way
592 automatic login is disabled.
593
595 The following commands are understood:
596 list
598 List all home directories (along with brief details) currently
599 managed by systemd-homed.service. This command is also executed if
600 none is specified on the command line. (Note that the list of users
601 shown by this command does not include users managed by other
602 subsystems, such as system users or any traditional users listed in
603 /etc/passwd.)
604 activate USER [USER...]
606 Activate one or more home directories. The home directories of each
607 listed user will be activated and made available under their mount
608 points (typically in /home/$USER). Note that any home activated
609 this way stays active indefinitely, until it is explicitly
610 deactivated again (with deactivate, see below), or the user logs in
611 and out again and it thus is deactivated due to the automatic
612 deactivation-on-logout logic.
613 Activation of a home directory involves various operations that
615 depend on the selected storage mechanism. If the LUKS2 mechanism is
616 used, this generally involves: inquiring the user for a password,
617 setting up a loopback device, validating and activating the LUKS2
618 volume, checking the file system, mounting the file system, and
619 potentially changing the ownership of all included files to the
620 correct UID/GID.
621 deactivate USER [USER...]
623 Deactivate one or more home directories. This undoes the effect of
624 activate.
625 inspect USER [USER...]
627 Show various details about the specified home directories. This
628 shows various information about the home directory and its user
629 account, including runtime data such as current state, disk use and
630 similar. Combine with --json= to show the detailed JSON user record
631 instead, possibly combined with --export-format= to suppress
632 certain aspects of the output.
633 authenticate USER [USER...]
635 Validate authentication credentials of a home directory. This
636 queries the caller for a password (or similar) and checks that it
637 correctly unlocks the home directory. This leaves the home
638 directory in the state it is in, i.e. it leaves the home directory
639 in inactive state if it was inactive before, and in active state if
640 it was active before.
641 create USER, create --identity=PATH [USER]
643 Create a new home directory/user account of the specified name. Use
644 the various user record property options (as documented above) to
645 control various aspects of the home directory and its user
646 accounts.
647 The specified user name should follow the strict syntax described
649 on User/Group Name Syntax[3].
650 remove USER
652 Remove a home directory/user account. This will remove both the
653 home directory's user record and the home directory itself, and
654 thus delete all files and directories owned by the user.
655 update USER, update --identity=PATH [USER]
657 Update a home directory/user account. Use the various user record
658 property options (as documented above) to make changes to the
659 account, or alternatively provide a full, updated JSON user record
660 via the --identity= option.
661 Note that changes to user records not signed by a cryptographic
663 private key available locally are not permitted, unless --identity=
664 is used with a user record that is already correctly signed by a
665 recognized private key.
666 passwd USER
668 Change the password of the specified home directory/user account.
669 resize USER BYTES
671 Change the disk space assigned to the specified home directory. If
672 the LUKS2 storage mechanism is used this will automatically resize
673 the loopback file and the file system contained within. Note that
674 if "ext4" is used inside of the LUKS2 volume, it is necessary to
675 deactivate the home directory before shrinking it (i.e the user has
676 to log out). Growing can be done while the home directory is
677 active. If "xfs" is used inside of the LUKS2 volume the home
678 directory may not be shrunk whatsoever. On all three of "ext4",
679 "xfs" and "btrfs" the home directory may be grown while the user is
680 logged in, and on the latter also shrunk while the user is logged
681 in. If the "subvolume", "directory", "fscrypt" storage mechanisms
682 are used, resizing will change file system quota.
683 lock USER
685 Temporarily suspend access to the user's home directory and remove
686 any associated cryptographic keys from memory. Any attempts to
687 access the user's home directory will stall until the home
688 directory is unlocked again (i.e. re-authenticated). This
689 functionality is primarily intended to be used during system
690 suspend to make sure the user's data cannot be accessed until the
691 user re-authenticates on resume. This operation is only defined for
692 home directories that use the LUKS2 storage mechanism.
693 unlock USER
695 Resume access to the user's home directory again, undoing the
696 effect of lock above. This requires authentication of the user, as
697 the cryptographic keys required for access to the home directory
698 need to be reacquired.
699 lock-all
701 Execute the lock command on all suitable home directories at once.
702 This operation is generally executed on system suspend (i.e. by
703 systemctl suspend and related commands), to ensure all active
704 user's cryptographic keys for accessing their home directories are
705 removed from memory.
706 deactivate-all
708 Execute the deactivate command on all active home directories at
709 once. This operation is generally executed on system shut down
710 (i.e. by systemctl poweroff and related commands), to ensure all
711 active user's home directories are fully deactivated before /home/
712 and related file systems are unmounted.
713 with USER COMMAND...
715 Activate the specified user's home directory, run the specified
716 command (under the caller's identity, not the specified user's) and
717 deactivate the home directory afterwards again (unless the user is
718 logged in otherwise). This command is useful for running privileged
719 backup scripts and such, but requires authentication with the
720 user's credentials in order to be able to unlock the user's home
721 directory.
722
724 On success, 0 is returned, a non-zero failure code otherwise.
725 When a command is invoked with with, the exit status of the child is
727 propagated. Effectively, homectl will exit without error if the command
728 is successfully invoked and finishes successfully.
729
731 $SYSTEMD_LOG_LEVEL
732 The maximum log level of emitted messages (messages with a higher
733 log level, i.e. less important ones, will be suppressed). Either
734 one of (in order of decreasing importance) emerg, alert, crit, err,
735 warning, notice, info, debug, or an integer in the range 0...7. See
736 syslog(3) for more information.
737 $SYSTEMD_LOG_COLOR
739 A boolean. If true, messages written to the tty will be colored
740 according to priority.
741 This setting is only useful when messages are written directly to
743 the terminal, because journalctl(1) and other tools that display
744 logs will color messages based on the log level on their own.
745 $SYSTEMD_LOG_TIME
747 A boolean. If true, console log messages will be prefixed with a
748 timestamp.
749 This setting is only useful when messages are written directly to
751 the terminal or a file, because journalctl(1) and other tools that
752 display logs will attach timestamps based on the entry metadata on
753 their own.
754 $SYSTEMD_LOG_LOCATION
756 A boolean. If true, messages will be prefixed with a filename and
757 line number in the source code where the message originates.
758 Note that the log location is often attached as metadata to journal
760 entries anyway. Including it directly in the message text can
761 nevertheless be convenient when debugging programs.
762 $SYSTEMD_LOG_TID
764 A boolean. If true, messages will be prefixed with the current
765 numerical thread ID (TID).
766 Note that the this information is attached as metadata to journal
768 entries anyway. Including it directly in the message text can
769 nevertheless be convenient when debugging programs.
770 $SYSTEMD_LOG_TARGET
772 The destination for log messages. One of console (log to the
773 attached tty), console-prefixed (log to the attached tty but with
774 prefixes encoding the log level and "facility", see syslog(3), kmsg
775 (log to the kernel circular log buffer), journal (log to the
776 journal), journal-or-kmsg (log to the journal if available, and to
777 kmsg otherwise), auto (determine the appropriate log target
778 automatically, the default), null (disable log output).
779 $SYSTEMD_PAGER
781 Pager to use when --no-pager is not given; overrides $PAGER. If
782 neither $SYSTEMD_PAGER nor $PAGER are set, a set of well-known
783 pager implementations are tried in turn, including less(1) and
784 more(1), until one is found. If no pager implementation is
785 discovered no pager is invoked. Setting this environment variable
786 to an empty string or the value "cat" is equivalent to passing
787 --no-pager.
788 $SYSTEMD_LESS
790 Override the options passed to less (by default "FRSXMK").
791 Users might want to change two options in particular:
793 K
795 This option instructs the pager to exit immediately when Ctrl+C
796 is pressed. To allow less to handle Ctrl+C itself to switch
797 back to the pager command prompt, unset this option.
798 If the value of $SYSTEMD_LESS does not include "K", and the
800 pager that is invoked is less, Ctrl+C will be ignored by the
801 executable, and needs to be handled by the pager.
802 X
804 This option instructs the pager to not send termcap
805 initialization and deinitialization strings to the terminal. It
806 is set by default to allow command output to remain visible in
807 the terminal even after the pager exits. Nevertheless, this
808 prevents some pager functionality from working, in particular
809 paged output cannot be scrolled with the mouse.
810 See less(1) for more discussion.
812 $SYSTEMD_LESSCHARSET
814 Override the charset passed to less (by default "utf-8", if the
815 invoking terminal is determined to be UTF-8 compatible).
816 $SYSTEMD_PAGERSECURE
818 Takes a boolean argument. When true, the "secure" mode of the pager
819 is enabled; if false, disabled. If $SYSTEMD_PAGERSECURE is not set
820 at all, secure mode is enabled if the effective UID is not the same
821 as the owner of the login session, see geteuid(2) and
822 sd_pid_get_owner_uid(3). In secure mode, LESSSECURE=1 will be set
823 when invoking the pager, and the pager shall disable commands that
824 open or create new files or start new subprocesses. When
825 $SYSTEMD_PAGERSECURE is not set at all, pagers which are not known
826 to implement secure mode will not be used. (Currently only less(1)
827 implements secure mode.)
828 Note: when commands are invoked with elevated privileges, for
830 example under sudo(8) or pkexec(1), care must be taken to ensure
831 that unintended interactive features are not enabled. "Secure" mode
832 for the pager may be enabled automatically as describe above.
833 Setting SYSTEMD_PAGERSECURE=0 or not removing it from the inherited
834 environment allows the user to invoke arbitrary commands. Note that
835 if the $SYSTEMD_PAGER or $PAGER variables are to be honoured,
836 $SYSTEMD_PAGERSECURE must be set too. It might be reasonable to
837 completely disable the pager using --no-pager instead.
838 $SYSTEMD_COLORS
840 Takes a boolean argument. When true, systemd and related utilities
841 will use colors in their output, otherwise the output will be
842 monochrome. Additionally, the variable can take one of the
843 following special values: "16", "256" to restrict the use of colors
844 to the base 16 or 256 ANSI colors, respectively. This can be
845 specified to override the automatic decision based on $TERM and
846 what the console is connected to.
847 $SYSTEMD_URLIFY
849 The value must be a boolean. Controls whether clickable links
850 should be generated in the output for terminal emulators supporting
851 this. This can be specified to override the decision that systemd
852 makes based on $TERM and other conditions.
853
855 Example 1. Create a user "waldo" in the administrator group "wheel",
856 and assign 500 MiB disk space to them.
857 homectl create waldo --real-name="Waldo McWaldo" -G wheel --disk-size=500M
859 Example 2. Create a user "wally" on a USB stick, and assign a maximum
861 of 500 concurrent tasks to them.
862 homectl create wally --real-name="Wally McWally" --image-path=/dev/disk/by-id/usb-SanDisk_Ultra_Fit_476fff954b2b5c44-0:0 --tasks-max=500
864 Example 3. Change nice level of user "odlaw" to +5 and make sure the
866 environment variable $SOME is set to the string "THING" for them on
867 login.
868 homectl update odlaw --nice=5 --setenv=SOME=THING
870 Example 4. Set up authentication with a YubiKey security token using
872 PKCS#11/PIV:
873 # Clear the Yubikey from any old keys (careful!)
875 ykman piv reset
876 # Generate a new private/public key pair on the device, store the public key in 'pubkey.pem'.
878 ykman piv generate-key -a RSA2048 9d pubkey.pem
879 # Create a self-signed certificate from this public key, and store it on the device.
881 ykman piv generate-certificate --subject "Knobelei" 9d pubkey.pem
882 # We don't need the public key on disk anymore
884 rm pubkey.pem
885 # Allow the security token to unlock the account of user 'lafcadio'.
887 homectl update lafcadio --pkcs11-token-uri=auto
888 Example 5. Set up authentication with a FIDO2 security token:
890 # Allow a FIDO2 security token to unlock the account of user 'nihilbaxter'.
892 homectl update nihilbaxter --fido2-device=auto
893
895 systemd(1), systemd-homed.service(8), homed.conf(5), userdbctl(1),
896 useradd(8), cryptsetup(8)
897
899 1. JSON User Records
900 https://systemd.io/USER_RECORD
901 2. Icon Naming Specification
903 https://standards.freedesktop.org/icon-naming-spec/icon-naming-spec-latest.html
904 3. User/Group Name Syntax
906 https://systemd.io/USER_NAMES
907systemd 249 HOMECTL(1)