2 <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
3 "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/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 <refpurpose>Create, remove, change or inspect home directories</refpurpose>
26 <command>homectl</command>
27 <arg choice="opt" rep="repeat">OPTIONS</arg>
28 <arg choice="req">COMMAND</arg>
29 <arg choice="opt" rep="repeat">NAME</arg>
34 <title>Description</title>
36 <para><command>homectl</command> may be used to create, remove, change or inspect a user's home
37 directory. It's primarily a command interfacing with
38 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-homed.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
39 which manages home directories of users.</para>
41 <para>Home directories managed by <filename>systemd-homed.service</filename> are self-contained, and thus
42 include the user's full metadata record in the home's data storage itself, making them easy to migrate
43 between machines. In particular, a home directory describes a matching user record, and every user record
44 managed by <filename>systemd-homed.service</filename> also implies existence and encapsulation of a home
45 directory. The user account and home directory become the same concept.</para>
47 <para>The following backing storage mechanisms are supported:</para>
50 <listitem><para>An individual LUKS2 encrypted loopback file for a user, stored in
51 <filename>/home/*.home</filename>. At login the file system contained in this files is mounted, after
52 the LUKS2 encrypted volume has been attached. The user's password is identical to the encryption
53 passphrase of the LUKS2 volume. Access to data without preceding user authentication is thus not
54 possible, even for the system administrator. This storage mechanism provides the strongest data
55 security and is thus recommended.</para></listitem>
57 <listitem><para>Similar, but the LUKS2 encrypted file system is located on regular block device, such
58 as a USB storage stick. In this mode home directories and all data they include are nicely migratable
59 between machines, simply by plugging the USB stick into different systems at different
60 times.</para></listitem>
62 <listitem><para>An encrypted directory using <literal>fscrypt</literal> on file systems that support it
63 (at the moment this is primarily <literal>ext4</literal>), located in
64 <filename>/home/*.homedir</filename>. This mechanism also provides encryption, but substantially
65 weaker than LUKS2, as most file system metadata is unprotected. Moreover
66 it currently does not support changing user passwords once the home directory has been
67 created.</para></listitem>
69 <listitem><para>A <literal>btrfs</literal> subvolume for each user, also located in
70 <filename>/home/*.homedir</filename>. This provides no encryption, but good quota
71 support.</para></listitem>
73 <listitem><para>A regular directory for each user, also located in
74 <filename>/home/*.homedir</filename>. This provides no encryption, but is a suitable fallback
75 available on all machines, even where LUKS2, <literal>fscrypt</literal> or <literal>btrfs</literal>
76 support is not available.</para></listitem>
78 <listitem><para>An individual Windows file share (CIFS) for each user.</para></listitem>
81 <para>Note that <filename>systemd-homed.service</filename> and <command>homectl</command> will not manage
82 "classic" UNIX user accounts as created with <citerefentry
83 project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>useradd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry> or
84 similar tools. In particular, this functionality is not suitable for managing system users (i.e. users
85 with a UID below 1000) but is exclusive to regular ("human") users.</para>
87 <para>Note that users/home directories managed via <command>systemd-homed.service</command> do not show
88 up in <filename>/etc/passwd</filename> and similar files, they are synthesized via glibc NSS during
89 runtime. They are thus resolvable and may be enumerated via the <citerefentry
90 project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>getent</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
93 <para>This tool interfaces directly with <filename>systemd-homed.service</filename>, and may execute
94 specific commands on the home directories it manages. Since every home directory managed that way also
95 defines a JSON user and group record these home directories may also be inspected and enumerated via
96 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>userdbctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
98 <para>Home directories managed by <filename>systemd-homed.service</filename> are usually in one of two
99 states, or in a transition state between them: when <literal>active</literal> they are unlocked and
100 mounted, and thus accessible to the system and its programs; when <literal>inactive</literal> they are
101 not mounted and thus not accessible. Activation happens automatically at login of the user and usually
102 can only complete after a password (or other authentication token) has been supplied. Deactivation
103 happens after the user fully logged out. A home directory remains active as long as the user is logged in
104 at least once, i.e. has at least one login session. When the user logs in a second time simultaneously
105 the home directory remains active. It is deactivated only after the last of the user's sessions
110 <title>Options</title>
112 <para>The following general options are understood (further options that control the various properties
113 of user records managed by <filename>systemd-homed.service</filename> are documented further
119 <term><option>--identity=</option><replaceable>FILE</replaceable></term>
121 <listitem><para>Read the user's JSON record from the specified file. If passed as
122 <literal>-</literal> read the user record from standard input. The supplied JSON object must follow
123 the structure documented in <ulink url="https://systemd.io/USER_RECORD">JSON User Records</ulink>.
124 This option may be used in conjunction with the <command>create</command> and
125 <command>update</command> commands (see below), where it allows configuring the user record in JSON
126 as-is, instead of setting the individual user record properties (see below).</para>
128 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
132 <term><option>--json=</option><replaceable>FORMAT</replaceable></term>
133 <term><option>-j</option></term>
135 <listitem><para>Controls whether to output the user record in JSON format, if the
136 <command>inspect</command> command (see below) is used. Takes one of <literal>pretty</literal>,
137 <literal>short</literal> or <literal>off</literal>. If <literal>pretty</literal> human-friendly
138 whitespace and newlines are inserted in the output to make the JSON data more readable. If
139 <literal>short</literal> all superfluous whitespace is suppressed. If <literal>off</literal> (the
140 default) the user information is not shown in JSON format but in a friendly human readable formatting
141 instead. The <option>-j</option> option picks <literal>pretty</literal> when run interactively and
142 <literal>short</literal> otherwise.</para>
144 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
148 <term><option>--export-format=</option><replaceable>FORMAT</replaceable></term>
149 <term><option>-E</option></term>
150 <term><option>-EE</option></term>
152 <listitem><para>When used with the <command>inspect</command> verb in JSON mode (see above) may be
153 used to suppress certain aspects of the JSON user record on output. Specifically, if
154 <literal>stripped</literal> format is used the binding and runtime fields of the record are
155 removed. If <literal>minimal</literal> format is used the cryptographic signature is removed too. If
156 <literal>full</literal> format is used the full JSON record is shown (this is the default). This
157 option is useful for copying an existing user record to a different system in order to create a
158 similar user there with the same settings. Specifically: <command>homectl inspect -EE | ssh
159 root@othersystem homectl create -i-</command> may be used as simple command line for replicating a
160 user on another host. <option>-E</option> is equivalent to <option>-j --export-format=stripped</option>,
161 <option>-EE</option> to <option>-j --export-format=minimal</option>. Note that when replicating user
162 accounts user records acquired in <literal>stripped</literal> mode will retain the original
163 cryptographic signatures and thus may only be modified when the private key to update them is available
164 on the destination machine. When replicating users in <literal>minimal</literal> mode, the signature
165 is removed during the replication and thus the record will be implicitly signed with the key of the destination
166 machine and may be updated there without any private key replication.</para>
168 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
171 <xi:include href="user-system-options.xml" xpointer="host" />
172 <xi:include href="user-system-options.xml" xpointer="machine" />
174 <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="no-pager" />
175 <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="no-legend" />
176 <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="no-ask-password" />
177 <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="help" />
178 <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="version" />
183 <title>User Record Properties</title>
185 <para>The following options control various properties of the user records/home directories that
186 <filename>systemd-homed.service</filename> manages. These switches may be used in conjunction with the
187 <command>create</command> and <command>update</command> commands for configuring various aspects of the
188 home directory and the user account:</para>
193 <term><option>--real-name=</option><replaceable>NAME</replaceable></term>
194 <term><option>-c</option> <replaceable>NAME</replaceable></term>
196 <listitem><para>The real name for the user. This corresponds with the GECOS field on classic UNIX NSS
199 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
203 <term><option>--realm=</option><replaceable>REALM</replaceable></term>
205 <listitem><para>The realm for the user. The realm associates a user with a specific organization or
206 installation, and allows distinguishing users of the same name defined in different contexts. The
207 realm can be any string that also qualifies as valid DNS domain name, and it is recommended to use
208 the organization's or installation's domain name for this purpose, but this is not enforced nor
209 required. On each system only a single user of the same name may exist, and if a user with the same
210 name and realm is seen it is assumed to refer to the same user while a user with the same name but
211 different realm is considered a different user. Note that this means that two users sharing the same
212 name but with distinct realms are not allowed on the same system. Assigning a realm to a user is
215 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
219 <term><option>--email-address=</option><replaceable>EMAIL</replaceable></term>
221 <listitem><para>Takes an electronic mail address to associate with the user. On log-in the
222 <varname>$EMAIL</varname> environment variable is initialized from this value.</para>
224 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
228 <term><option>--location=</option><replaceable>TEXT</replaceable></term>
230 <listitem><para>Takes location specification for this user. This is free-form text, which might or
231 might not be usable by geo-location applications. Example: <option>--location="Berlin,
232 Germany"</option> or <option>--location="Basement, Room 3a"</option></para>
234 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
238 <term><option>--icon-name=</option><replaceable>ICON</replaceable></term>
240 <listitem><para>Takes an icon name to associate with the user, following the scheme defined by the <ulink
241 url="https://standards.freedesktop.org/icon-naming-spec/icon-naming-spec-latest.html">Icon Naming
242 Specification</ulink>.</para>
244 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
248 <term><option>--home-dir=</option><replaceable>PATH</replaceable></term>
249 <term><option>-d</option><replaceable>PATH</replaceable></term>
251 <listitem><para>Takes a path to use as home directory for the user. Note that this is the directory
252 the user's home directory is mounted to while the user is logged in. This is not where the user's
253 data is actually stored, see <option>--image-path=</option> for that. If not specified defaults to
254 <filename>/home/$USER</filename>.</para>
256 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
260 <term><option>--uid=</option><replaceable>UID</replaceable></term>
262 <listitem><para>Takes a preferred numeric UNIX UID to assign this user. If a user is to be created
263 with the specified UID and it is already taken by a different user on the local system then creation
264 of the home directory is refused. Note though, if after creating the home directory it is used on a
265 different system and the configured UID is taken by another user there, then
266 <command>systemd-homed</command> may assign the user a different UID on that system. The specified
267 UID must be outside of the system user range. It is recommended to use the 60001…60513 UID range for
268 this purpose. If not specified, the UID is automatically picked. If the home directory is found to be
269 owned by a different UID when logging in, the home directory and everything underneath it will have
270 its ownership changed automatically before login completes.</para>
272 <para>Note that changing this option for existing home directories generally has no effect on home
273 directories that already have been registered locally (have a local <emphasis>binding</emphasis>), as
274 the UID used for an account on the local system is determined when the home directory is first
275 activated on it, and then remains in effect until the home directory is removed.</para>
277 <para>Note that users managed by <command>systemd-homed</command> always have a matching group
278 associated with the same name as well as a GID matching the UID of the user. Thus, configuring the
279 GID separately is not permitted.</para>
281 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
285 <term><option>--member-of=</option><replaceable>GROUP</replaceable></term>
286 <term><option>-G</option> <replaceable>GROUP</replaceable></term>
288 <listitem><para>Takes a comma-separated list of auxiliary UNIX groups this user shall belong
289 to. Example: <option>--member-of=wheel</option> to provide the user with administrator
290 privileges. Note that <command>systemd-homed</command> does not manage any groups besides a group
291 matching the user in name and numeric UID/GID. Thus any groups listed here must be registered
292 independently, for example with <citerefentry
293 project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>groupadd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
294 Any non-existent groups are ignored. This option may be used more than once, in which case all
295 specified group lists are combined. If the user is currently a member of a group which is not listed,
296 the user will be removed from the group.</para>
298 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
302 <term><option>--capability-bounding-set=</option><replaceable>CAPABILITIES</replaceable></term>
303 <term><option>--capability-ambient-set=</option><replaceable>CAPABILITIES</replaceable></term>
305 <listitem><para>These options take a space separated list of process capabilities
306 (e.g. <constant>CAP_WAKE_ALARM</constant>, <constant>CAP_BLOCK_SUSPEND</constant>, …) that shall be
307 set in the capability bounding and ambient sets for all the user's sessions. See <citerefentry
308 project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>capabilities</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>
309 for details on the capabilities concept. These options may be used more than once, in which case the
310 specified lists are combined. If the parameter begins with a <literal>~</literal> character the
311 effect is inverted: the specified capability is dropped from the specific set.</para>
313 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v254"/></listitem>
317 <term><option>--skel=</option><replaceable>PATH</replaceable></term>
319 <listitem><para>Takes a file system path to a directory. Specifies the skeleton directory to
320 initialize the home directory with. All files and directories in the specified path are copied into
321 any newly create home directory. If not specified defaults to <filename>/etc/skel/</filename>.
324 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
328 <term><option>--shell=</option><replaceable>SHELL</replaceable></term>
330 <listitem><para>Takes a file system path. Specifies the shell binary to execute on terminal
331 logins. If not specified defaults to <filename>/bin/bash</filename>.</para>
333 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
337 <term><option>--setenv=</option><replaceable>VARIABLE</replaceable>[=<replaceable>VALUE</replaceable>]</term>
339 <listitem><para>Takes an environment variable assignment to set for all user processes. May be used
340 multiple times to set multiple environment variables. When <literal>=</literal> and
341 <replaceable>VALUE</replaceable> are omitted, the value of the variable with the same name in the
342 program environment will be used.</para>
344 <para>Note that a number of other settings also result in environment variables to be set for the
345 user, including <option>--email=</option>, <option>--timezone=</option> and
346 <option>--language=</option>.</para>
348 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
352 <term><option>--timezone=</option><replaceable>TIMEZONE</replaceable></term>
354 <listitem><para>Takes a time zone location name that sets the timezone for the specified user. When
355 the user logs in the <varname>$TZ</varname> environment variable is initialized from this
356 setting. Example: <option>--timezone=Europe/Amsterdam</option> will result in the environment
357 variable <literal>TZ=:Europe/Amsterdam</literal>. (<literal>:</literal> is used intentionally as part
358 of the timezone specification, see
359 <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>tzset</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>.)
362 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
366 <term><option>--language=</option><replaceable>LANG</replaceable></term>
368 <listitem><para>Takes a specifier indicating the preferred language of the user. The
369 <varname>$LANG</varname> environment variable is initialized from this value on login, and thus a
370 value suitable for this environment variable is accepted here, for example
371 <option>--language=de_DE.UTF8</option>.</para>
373 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
377 <term><option>--ssh-authorized-keys=</option><replaceable>KEYS</replaceable></term>
378 <listitem><para>Either takes a SSH authorized key line to associate with the user record or a
379 <literal>@</literal> character followed by a path to a file to read one or more such lines from. SSH
380 keys configured this way are made available to SSH to permit access to this home directory and user
381 record. This option may be used more than once to configure multiple SSH keys.</para>
383 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
387 <term><option>--pkcs11-token-uri=</option><replaceable>URI</replaceable></term>
388 <listitem><para>Takes an RFC 7512 PKCS#11 URI referencing a security token (e.g. YubiKey or PIV
389 smartcard) that shall be able to unlock the user account. The security token URI should reference a
390 security token with exactly one pair of X.509 certificate and private key. A random secret key is
391 then generated, encrypted with the public key of the X.509 certificate, and stored as part of the
392 user record. At login time it is decrypted with the PKCS#11 module and then used to unlock the
393 account and associated resources. See below for an example how to set up authentication with a
394 security token.</para>
396 <para>Instead of a valid PKCS#11 URI, the special strings <literal>list</literal> and
397 <literal>auto</literal> may be specified. If <literal>list</literal> is passed, a brief table of
398 suitable, currently plugged in PKCS#11 hardware tokens is shown, along with their URIs. If
399 <literal>auto</literal> is passed, a suitable PKCS#11 hardware token is automatically selected (this
400 operation will fail if there isn't exactly one suitable token discovered). The latter is a useful
401 shortcut for the most common case where a single PKCS#11 hardware token is plugged in.</para>
403 <para>Note that many hardware security tokens implement both PKCS#11/PIV and FIDO2 with the
404 <literal>hmac-secret</literal> extension (for example: the YubiKey 5 series), as supported with the
405 <option>--fido2-device=</option> option below. Both mechanisms are similarly powerful, though FIDO2
406 is the more modern technology. PKCS#11/PIV tokens have the benefit of being recognizable before
407 authentication and hence can be used for implying the user identity to use for logging in, which
408 FIDO2 does not allow. PKCS#11/PIV devices generally require initialization (i.e. storing a
409 private/public key pair on them, see example below) before they can be used; FIDO2 security tokens
410 generally do not required that, and work out of the box.</para>
412 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
416 <term><option>--fido2-credential-algorithm=</option><replaceable>STRING</replaceable></term>
417 <listitem><para>Specify COSE algorithm used in credential generation. The default value is
418 <literal>es256</literal>. Supported values are <literal>es256</literal>, <literal>rs256</literal>
419 and <literal>eddsa</literal>.</para>
421 <para><literal>es256</literal> denotes ECDSA over NIST P-256 with SHA-256. <literal>rs256</literal>
422 denotes 2048-bit RSA with PKCS#1.5 padding and SHA-256. <literal>eddsa</literal> denotes
423 EDDSA over Curve25519 with SHA-512.</para>
425 <para>Note that your authenticator may not support some algorithms.</para>
427 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v251"/></listitem>
431 <term><option>--fido2-device=</option><replaceable>PATH</replaceable></term>
433 <listitem><para>Takes a path to a Linux <literal>hidraw</literal> device
434 (e.g. <filename>/dev/hidraw1</filename>), referring to a FIDO2 security token implementing the
435 <literal>hmac-secret</literal> extension that shall be able to unlock the user account. A random salt
436 value is generated on the host and passed to the FIDO2 device, which calculates a HMAC hash of the
437 salt using an internal secret key. The result is then used as the key to unlock the user account. The
438 random salt is included in the user record, so that whenever authentication is needed it can be
439 passed to the FIDO2 token again.</para>
441 <para>Instead of a valid path to a FIDO2 <literal>hidraw</literal> device the special strings
442 <literal>list</literal> and <literal>auto</literal> may be specified. If <literal>list</literal> is
443 passed, a brief table of suitable discovered FIDO2 devices is shown. If <literal>auto</literal> is
444 passed, a suitable FIDO2 token is automatically selected, if exactly one is discovered. The latter is
445 a useful shortcut for the most common case where a single FIDO2 hardware token is plugged in.</para>
447 <para>Note that FIDO2 devices suitable for this option must implement the
448 <literal>hmac-secret</literal> extension. Most current devices (such as the YubiKey 5 series) do. If
449 the extension is not implemented the device cannot be used for unlocking home directories.</para>
451 <para>The FIDO2 device may be subsequently removed by setting the device path to an empty string
452 (e.g. <command>homectl update $USER --fido2-device=""</command>).</para>
454 <para>Note that many hardware security tokens implement both FIDO2 and PKCS#11/PIV (and thus may be
455 used with either <option>--fido2-device=</option> or <option>--pkcs11-token-uri=</option>), for a
456 discussion see above.</para>
458 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v246"/></listitem>
462 <term><option>--fido2-with-client-pin=</option><replaceable>BOOL</replaceable></term>
464 <listitem><para>When enrolling a FIDO2 security token, controls whether to require the user to enter
465 a PIN when unlocking the account (the FIDO2 <literal>clientPin</literal> feature). Defaults to
466 <literal>yes</literal>. (Note: this setting is without effect if the security token does not support
467 the <literal>clientPin</literal> feature at all, or does not allow enabling or disabling
470 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v249"/></listitem>
474 <term><option>--fido2-with-user-presence=</option><replaceable>BOOL</replaceable></term>
476 <listitem><para>When enrolling a FIDO2 security token, controls whether to require the user to
477 verify presence (tap the token, the FIDO2 <literal>up</literal> feature) when unlocking the account.
478 Defaults to <literal>yes</literal>. (Note: this setting is without effect if the security token does not support
479 the <literal>up</literal> feature at all, or does not allow enabling or disabling it.)
482 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v249"/></listitem>
486 <term><option>--fido2-with-user-verification=</option><replaceable>BOOL</replaceable></term>
488 <listitem><para>When enrolling a FIDO2 security token, controls whether to require user verification
489 when unlocking the account (the FIDO2 <literal>uv</literal> feature). Defaults to
490 <literal>no</literal>. (Note: this setting is without effect if the security token does not support
491 the <literal>uv</literal> feature at all, or does not allow enabling or disabling it.)</para>
493 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v249"/></listitem>
497 <term><option>--recovery-key=</option><replaceable>BOOL</replaceable></term>
499 <listitem><para>Accepts a boolean argument. If enabled a recovery key is configured for the
500 account. A recovery key is a computer generated access key that may be used to regain access to an
501 account if the password has been forgotten or the authentication token lost. The key is generated and
502 shown on screen, and should be printed or otherwise transferred to a secure location. A recovery key
503 may be entered instead of a regular password to unlock the account.</para>
505 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v247"/></listitem>
509 <term><option>--locked=</option><replaceable>BOOLEAN</replaceable></term>
511 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. Specifies whether this user account shall be locked. If
512 true logins into this account are prohibited, if false (the default) they are permitted (of course,
513 only if authorization otherwise succeeds).</para>
515 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
519 <term><option>--not-before=</option><replaceable>TIMESTAMP</replaceable></term>
520 <term><option>--not-after=</option><replaceable>TIMESTAMP</replaceable></term>
522 <listitem><para>These options take a timestamp string, in the format documented in
523 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.time</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry> and
524 configures points in time before and after logins into this account are not
527 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
531 <term><option>--rate-limit-interval=</option><replaceable>SECS</replaceable></term>
532 <term><option>--rate-limit-burst=</option><replaceable>NUMBER</replaceable></term>
534 <listitem><para>Configures a rate limit on authentication attempts for this user. If the user
535 attempts to authenticate more often than the specified number, on a specific system, within the
536 specified time interval authentication is refused until the time interval passes. Defaults to 10
537 times per 1min.</para>
539 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
543 <term><option>--password-hint=</option><replaceable>TEXT</replaceable></term>
545 <listitem><para>Takes a password hint to store alongside the user record. This string is stored
546 accessible only to privileged users and the user itself and may not be queried by other users.
547 Example: <option>--password-hint="My first pet's name"</option>.</para>
549 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
553 <term><option>--enforce-password-policy=</option><replaceable>BOOL</replaceable></term>
554 <term><option>-P</option></term>
556 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. Configures whether to enforce the system's password policy
557 for this user, regarding quality and strength of selected passwords. Defaults to
558 on. <option>-P</option> is short for
559 <option>---enforce-password-policy=no</option>.</para>
561 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
565 <term><option>--password-change-now=</option><replaceable>BOOL</replaceable></term>
567 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. If true the user is asked to change their password on next
570 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
574 <term><option>--password-change-min=</option><replaceable>TIME</replaceable></term>
575 <term><option>--password-change-max=</option><replaceable>TIME</replaceable></term>
576 <term><option>--password-change-warn=</option><replaceable>TIME</replaceable></term>
577 <term><option>--password-change-inactive=</option><replaceable>TIME</replaceable></term>
579 <listitem><para>Each of these options takes a time span specification as argument (in the syntax
581 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.time</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>) and
582 configures various aspects of the user's password expiration policy. Specifically,
583 <option>--password-change-min=</option> configures how much time has to pass after changing the
584 password of the user until the password may be changed again. If the user tries to change their
585 password before this time passes the attempt is refused. <option>--password-change-max=</option>
586 configures how soon after it has been changed the password expires and needs to be changed again.
587 After this time passes logging in may only proceed after the password is changed.
588 <option>--password-change-warn=</option> specifies how much earlier than then the time configured
589 with <option>--password-change-max=</option> the user is warned at login to change their password as
590 it will expire soon. Finally <option>--password-change-inactive=</option> configures the time which
591 has to pass after the password as expired until the user is not permitted to log in or change the
592 password anymore. Note that these options only apply to password authentication, and do not apply to
593 other forms of authentication, for example PKCS#11-based security token
594 authentication.</para>
596 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
600 <term><option>--disk-size=</option><replaceable>BYTES</replaceable></term>
601 <listitem><para>Either takes a size in bytes as argument (possibly using the usual K, M, G, …
602 suffixes for 1024 base values), a percentage value, or the special strings <literal>min</literal> or
603 <literal>max</literal>, and configures the disk space to assign to the user. If a percentage value is
604 specified (i.e. the argument suffixed with <literal>%</literal>) it is taken relative to the
605 available disk space of the backing file system. If specified as <literal>min</literal> assigns the
606 minimal disk space permitted by the constraints of the backing file system and other limits, when
607 specified as <literal>max</literal> assigns the maximum disk space available. If the LUKS2 backend is
608 used this configures the size of the loopback file and file system contained therein. For the other
609 storage backends configures disk quota using the filesystem's native quota logic, if available. If
610 not specified, defaults to 85% of the available disk space for the LUKS2 backend and to no quota for
613 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
617 <term><option>--access-mode=</option><replaceable>MODE</replaceable></term>
619 <listitem><para>Takes a UNIX file access mode written in octal. Configures the access mode of the
620 home directory itself. Note that this is only used when the directory is first created, and the user
621 may change this any time afterwards. Example:
622 <option>--access-mode=0700</option></para>
624 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
628 <term><option>--umask=</option><replaceable>MASK</replaceable></term>
630 <listitem><para>Takes the access mode mask (in octal syntax) to apply to newly created files and
631 directories of the user ("umask"). If set this controls the initial umask set for all login sessions of
632 the user, possibly overriding the system's defaults.</para>
634 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
638 <term><option>--nice=</option><replaceable>NICE</replaceable></term>
640 <listitem><para>Takes the numeric scheduling priority ("nice level") to apply to the processes of the user at login
641 time. Takes a numeric value in the range -20 (highest priority) to 19 (lowest priority).</para>
643 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
647 <term><option>--rlimit=</option><replaceable>LIMIT</replaceable>=<replaceable>VALUE</replaceable><optional>:<replaceable>VALUE</replaceable></optional></term>
649 <listitem><para>Allows configuration of resource limits for processes of this user, see <citerefentry
650 project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>getrlimit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>2</manvolnum></citerefentry>
651 for details. Takes a resource limit name (e.g. <literal>LIMIT_NOFILE</literal>) followed by an equal
652 sign, followed by a numeric limit. Optionally, separated by colon a second numeric limit may be
653 specified. If two are specified this refers to the soft and hard limits, respectively. If only one
654 limit is specified the setting sets both limits in one.</para>
656 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
660 <term><option>--tasks-max=</option><replaceable>TASKS</replaceable></term>
662 <listitem><para>Takes a non-zero unsigned integer as argument. Configures the maximum number of tasks
663 (i.e. threads, where each process is at least one thread) the user may have at any given time. This
664 limit applies to all tasks forked off the user's sessions, even if they change user identity via
665 <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>su</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
666 or a similar tool. Use <option>--rlimit=LIMIT_NPROC=</option> to place a limit on the tasks actually
667 running under the UID of the user, thus excluding any child processes that might have changed user
668 identity. This controls the <varname>TasksMax=</varname> setting of the per-user systemd slice unit
669 <filename>user-$UID.slice</filename>. See
670 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.resource-control</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
671 for further details.</para>
673 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
677 <term><option>--memory-high=</option><replaceable>BYTES</replaceable></term>
678 <term><option>--memory-max=</option><replaceable>BYTES</replaceable></term>
680 <listitem><para>Set a limit on the memory a user may take up on a system at any given time in bytes
681 (the usual K, M, G, … suffixes are supported, to the base of 1024). This includes all memory used by
682 the user itself and all processes they forked off that changed user credentials. This controls the
683 <varname>MemoryHigh=</varname> and <varname>MemoryMax=</varname> settings of the per-user systemd
684 slice unit <filename>user-$UID.slice</filename>. See
685 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.resource-control</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
686 for further details.</para>
688 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
692 <term><option>--cpu-weight=</option><replaceable>WEIGHT</replaceable></term>
693 <term><option>--io-weight=</option><replaceable>WEIGHT</replaceable></term>
695 <listitem><para>Set CPU and IO scheduling weights of the processes of the user, including those of
696 processes forked off by the user that changed user credentials. Takes a numeric value in the range
697 1…10000. This controls the <varname>CPUWeight=</varname> and <varname>IOWeight=</varname> settings of
698 the per-user systemd slice unit <filename>user-$UID.slice</filename>. See
699 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.resource-control</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
700 for further details.</para>
702 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
706 <term><option>--storage=</option><replaceable>STORAGE</replaceable></term>
708 <listitem><para>Selects the storage mechanism to use for this home directory. Takes one of
709 <literal>luks</literal>, <literal>fscrypt</literal>, <literal>directory</literal>,
710 <literal>subvolume</literal>, <literal>cifs</literal>. For details about these mechanisms, see
711 above. If a new home directory is created and the storage type is not specifically specified,
712 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>homed.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
713 defines which default storage to use.</para>
715 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
719 <term><option>--image-path=</option><replaceable>PATH</replaceable></term>
721 <listitem><para>Takes a file system path. Configures where to place the user's home directory. When
722 LUKS2 storage is used refers to the path to the loopback file, otherwise to the path to the home
723 directory (which may be in <filename>/home/</filename> or any other accessible filesystem). When
724 unspecified defaults to <filename>/home/$USER.home</filename> when LUKS storage is used and
725 <filename>/home/$USER.homedir</filename> for the other storage mechanisms. Not defined for the
726 <literal>cifs</literal> storage mechanism. To use LUKS2 storage on a regular block device (for
727 example a USB stick) pass the path to the block device here. Specifying the path to a directory here
728 when using LUKS2 storage is not allowed. Similar, specifying the path to a regular file or device
729 node is not allowed if any of the other storage backends are used.</para>
731 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
735 <term><option>--drop-caches=</option><replaceable>BOOL</replaceable></term>
737 <listitem><para>Automatically flush OS file system caches on logout. This is useful in combination
738 with the fscrypt storage backend to ensure the OS does not keep decrypted versions of the files and
739 directories in memory (and accessible) after logout. This option is also supported on other backends,
740 but should not bring any benefit there. Defaults to off, except if the selected storage backend is
741 fscrypt, where it defaults to on. Note that flushing OS caches will negatively influence performance
742 of the OS shortly after logout.</para>
744 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v250"/></listitem>
748 <term><option>--fs-type=</option><replaceable>TYPE</replaceable></term>
750 <listitem><para>When LUKS2 storage is used configures the file system type to use inside the home
751 directory LUKS2 container. One of <literal>btrfs</literal>, <literal>ext4</literal>,
752 <literal>xfs</literal>. If not specified
753 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>homed.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
754 defines which default file system type to use. Note that <literal>xfs</literal> is not recommended as
755 its support for file system resizing is too limited.</para>
757 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
761 <term><option>--luks-discard=</option><replaceable>BOOL</replaceable></term>
763 <listitem><para>When LUKS2 storage is used configures whether to enable the
764 <literal>discard</literal> feature of the file system. If enabled the file system on top of the LUKS2
765 volume will report empty block information to LUKS2 and the loopback file below, ensuring that empty
766 space in the home directory is returned to the backing file system below the LUKS2 volume, resulting
767 in a "sparse" loopback file. This option mostly defaults to off, since this permits over-committing
768 home directories which results in I/O errors if the underlying file system runs full while the upper
769 file system wants to allocate a block. Such I/O errors are generally not handled well by file systems
770 nor applications. When LUKS2 storage is used on top of regular block devices (instead of on top a
771 loopback file) the discard logic defaults to on.</para>
773 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
777 <term><option>--luks-offline-discard=</option><replaceable>BOOL</replaceable></term>
779 <listitem><para>Similar to <option>--luks-discard=</option>, controls the trimming of the file
780 system. However, while <option>--luks-discard=</option> controls what happens when the home directory
781 is active, <option>--luks-offline-discard=</option> controls what happens when it becomes inactive,
782 i.e. whether to trim/allocate the storage when deactivating the home directory. This option defaults
783 to on, to ensure disk space is minimized while a user is not logged in.</para>
785 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v246"/></listitem>
789 <term><option>--luks-extra-mount-options=</option><replaceable>OPTIONS</replaceable></term>
791 <listitem><para>Takes a string containing additional mount options to use when mounting the LUKS
792 volume. If specified, this string will be appended to the default, built-in mount
795 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v250"/></listitem>
799 <term><option>--luks-cipher=</option><replaceable>CIPHER</replaceable></term>
800 <term><option>--luks-cipher-mode=</option><replaceable>MODE</replaceable></term>
801 <term><option>--luks-volume-key-size=</option><replaceable>BYTES</replaceable></term>
802 <term><option>--luks-pbkdf-type=</option><replaceable>TYPE</replaceable></term>
803 <term><option>--luks-pbkdf-hash-algorithm=</option><replaceable>ALGORITHM</replaceable></term>
804 <term><option>--luks-pbkdf-force-iterations=</option><replaceable>ITERATIONS</replaceable></term>
805 <term><option>--luks-pbkdf-time-cost=</option><replaceable>SECONDS</replaceable></term>
806 <term><option>--luks-pbkdf-memory-cost=</option><replaceable>BYTES</replaceable></term>
807 <term><option>--luks-pbkdf-parallel-threads=</option><replaceable>THREADS</replaceable></term>
808 <term><option>--luks-sector-size=</option><replaceable>BYTES</replaceable></term>
810 <listitem><para>Configures various cryptographic parameters for the LUKS2 storage mechanism. See
812 project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>cryptsetup</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
813 for details on the specific attributes.</para>
815 <para>Note that <command>homectl</command> uses bytes for key size, like
816 <filename>/proc/crypto</filename>, but <citerefentry
817 project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>cryptsetup</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
820 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
824 <term><option>--auto-resize-mode=</option></term>
826 <listitem><para>Configures whether to automatically grow and/or shrink the backing file system on
827 login and logout. Takes one of the strings <literal>off</literal>, <literal>grow</literal>,
828 <literal>shrink-and-grow</literal>. Only applies to the LUKS2 backend currently, and if the btrfs
829 file system is used inside it (since only then online growing/shrinking of the file system is
830 supported). Defaults to <literal>shrink-and-grow</literal>, if LUKS2/btrfs is used, otherwise is
831 off. If set to <literal>off</literal> no automatic shrinking/growing during login or logout is
832 done. If set to <literal>grow</literal> the home area is grown to the size configured via
833 <option>--disk-size=</option> should it currently be smaller. If it already matches the configured
834 size or is larger no operation is executed. If set to <literal>shrink-and-grow</literal> the home
835 area is also resized during logout to the minimal size the used disk space and file system
836 constraints permit. This mode thus ensures that while a home area is activated it is sized to the
837 configured size, but while deactivated it is compacted taking up only the minimal space possible.
838 Note that if the system is powered off abnormally or if the user otherwise not logged out cleanly the
839 shrinking operation will not take place, and the user has to re-login/logout again before it is
840 executed again.</para>
842 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v250"/></listitem>
846 <term><option>--rebalance-weight=</option></term>
848 <listitem><para>Configures the weight parameter for the free disk space rebalancing logic. Only
849 applies to the LUKS2 backend (since for the LUKS2 backend disk space is allocated from a per-user
850 loopback file system instead of immediately from a common pool like the other backends do it). In
851 regular intervals free disk space in the active home areas and their backing storage is redistributed
852 among them, taking the weight value configured here into account. Expects an integer in the range
853 1…10000, or the special string <literal>off</literal>. If not specified defaults to 100. The weight
854 is used to scale free space made available to the home areas: a home area with a weight of 200 will
855 get twice the free space as one with a weight of 100; a home area with a weight of 50 will get half
856 of that. The backing file system will be assigned space for a weight of 20. If set to
857 <literal>off</literal> no automatic free space distribution is done for this home area. Note that
858 resizing the home area explicitly (with <command>homectl resize</command> see below) will implicitly
859 turn off the automatic rebalancing. To reenable the automatic rebalancing use
860 <option>--rebalance-weight=</option> with an empty parameter.</para>
862 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v250"/></listitem>
866 <term><option>--nosuid=</option><replaceable>BOOL</replaceable></term>
867 <term><option>--nodev=</option><replaceable>BOOL</replaceable></term>
868 <term><option>--noexec=</option><replaceable>BOOL</replaceable></term>
870 <listitem><para>Configures the <literal>nosuid</literal>, <literal>nodev</literal> and
871 <literal>noexec</literal> mount options for the home directories. By default <literal>nodev</literal>
872 and <literal>nosuid</literal> are on, while <literal>noexec</literal> is off. For details about these
873 mount options see <citerefentry
874 project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>mount</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
876 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
880 <term><option>--cifs-domain=</option><replaceable>DOMAIN</replaceable></term>
881 <term><option>--cifs-user-name=</option><replaceable>USER</replaceable></term>
882 <term><option>--cifs-service=</option><replaceable>SERVICE</replaceable></term>
883 <term><option>--cifs-extra-mount-options=</option><replaceable>OPTIONS</replaceable></term>
885 <listitem><para>Configures the Windows File Sharing (CIFS) domain and user to associate with the home
886 directory/user account, as well as the file share ("service") to mount as directory. The latter is
887 used when <literal>cifs</literal> storage is selected. The file share should be specified in format
888 <literal>//<replaceable>host</replaceable>/<replaceable>share</replaceable>/<replaceable>directory/…</replaceable></literal>. The
889 directory part is optional — if not specified the home directory will be placed in the top-level
890 directory of the share. The <option>--cifs-extra-mount-options=</option> setting allows specifying
891 additional mount options when mounting the share, see <citerefentry
892 project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>mount.cifs</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
895 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
899 <term><option>--stop-delay=</option><replaceable>SECS</replaceable></term>
901 <listitem><para>Configures the time the per-user service manager shall continue to run after the all
902 sessions of the user ended. The default is configured in
903 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>logind.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> (for
904 home directories of LUKS2 storage located on removable media this defaults to 0 though). A longer
905 time makes sure quick, repetitive logins are more efficient as the user's service manager doesn't
906 have to be started every time.</para>
908 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
912 <term><option>--kill-processes=</option><replaceable>BOOL</replaceable></term>
914 <listitem><para>Configures whether to kill all processes of the user on logout. The default is
916 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>logind.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
918 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
922 <term><option>--auto-login=</option><replaceable>BOOL</replaceable></term>
924 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. Configures whether the graphical UI of the system should
925 automatically log this user in if possible. Defaults to off. If less or more than one user is marked
926 this way automatic login is disabled.</para>
928 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
934 <title>Commands</title>
936 <para>The following commands are understood:</para>
941 <term><command>list</command></term>
943 <listitem><para>List all home directories (along with brief details) currently managed by
944 <filename>systemd-homed.service</filename>. This command is also executed if none is specified on the
945 command line. (Note that the list of users shown by this command does not include users managed by
946 other subsystems, such as system users or any traditional users listed in
947 <filename>/etc/passwd</filename>.)</para>
949 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
953 <term><command>activate</command> <replaceable>USER</replaceable> [<replaceable>USER…</replaceable>]</term>
955 <listitem><para>Activate one or more home directories. The home directories of each listed user will
956 be activated and made available under their mount points (typically in
957 <filename>/home/$USER</filename>). Note that any home activated this way stays active indefinitely,
958 until it is explicitly deactivated again (with <command>deactivate</command>, see below), or the user
959 logs in and out again and it thus is deactivated due to the automatic deactivation-on-logout
962 <para>Activation of a home directory involves various operations that depend on the selected storage
963 mechanism. If the LUKS2 mechanism is used, this generally involves: inquiring the user for a
964 password, setting up a loopback device, validating and activating the LUKS2 volume, checking the file
965 system, mounting the file system, and potentially changing the ownership of all included files to the
966 correct UID/GID.</para>
968 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
972 <term><command>deactivate</command> <replaceable>USER</replaceable> [<replaceable>USER…</replaceable>]</term>
974 <listitem><para>Deactivate one or more home directories. This undoes the effect of
975 <command>activate</command>.</para>
977 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
981 <term><command>inspect</command> <replaceable>USER</replaceable> [<replaceable>USER…</replaceable>]</term>
983 <listitem><para>Show various details about the specified home directories. This shows various
984 information about the home directory and its user account, including runtime data such as current
985 state, disk use and similar. Combine with <option>--json=</option> to show the detailed JSON user
986 record instead, possibly combined with <option>--export-format=</option> to suppress certain aspects
987 of the output.</para>
989 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
993 <term><command>authenticate</command> <replaceable>USER</replaceable> [<replaceable>USER…</replaceable>]</term>
995 <listitem><para>Validate authentication credentials of a home directory. This queries the caller for
996 a password (or similar) and checks that it correctly unlocks the home directory. This leaves the home
997 directory in the state it is in, i.e. it leaves the home directory in inactive state if it was
998 inactive before, and in active state if it was active before.</para>
1000 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
1004 <term><command>create</command> <replaceable>USER</replaceable></term>
1005 <term><command>create</command> <option>--identity=</option><replaceable>PATH</replaceable> <optional><replaceable>USER</replaceable></optional></term>
1007 <listitem><para>Create a new home directory/user account of the specified name. Use the various
1008 user record property options (as documented above) to control various aspects of the home directory
1009 and its user accounts.</para>
1011 <para>The specified user name should follow the strict syntax described on <ulink
1012 url="https://systemd.io/USER_NAMES">User/Group Name Syntax</ulink>.</para>
1014 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
1018 <term><command>remove</command> <replaceable>USER</replaceable></term>
1020 <listitem><para>Remove a home directory/user account. This will remove both the home directory's user
1021 record and the home directory itself, and thus delete all files and directories owned by the
1024 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
1028 <term><command>update</command> <replaceable>USER</replaceable></term>
1029 <term><command>update</command> <option>--identity=</option><replaceable>PATH</replaceable> <optional><replaceable>USER</replaceable></optional></term>
1031 <listitem><para>Update a home directory/user account. Use the various user record property options
1032 (as documented above) to make changes to the account, or alternatively provide a full, updated JSON
1033 user record via the <option>--identity=</option> option.</para>
1035 <para>Note that changes to user records not signed by a cryptographic private key available locally
1036 are not permitted, unless <option>--identity=</option> is used with a user record that is already
1037 correctly signed by a recognized private key.</para>
1039 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
1043 <term><command>passwd</command> <replaceable>USER</replaceable></term>
1045 <listitem><para>Change the password of the specified home directory/user account.</para>
1047 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
1051 <term><command>resize</command> <replaceable>USER</replaceable> <replaceable>BYTES</replaceable></term>
1053 <listitem><para>Change the disk space assigned to the specified home directory. If the LUKS2 storage
1054 mechanism is used this will automatically resize the loopback file and the file system contained
1055 within. Note that if <literal>ext4</literal> is used inside of the LUKS2 volume, it is necessary to
1056 deactivate the home directory before shrinking it (i.e the user has to log out). Growing can be done
1057 while the home directory is active. If <literal>xfs</literal> is used inside of the LUKS2 volume the
1058 home directory may not be shrunk whatsoever. On all three of <literal>ext4</literal>,
1059 <literal>xfs</literal> and <literal>btrfs</literal> the home directory may be grown while the user is
1060 logged in, and on the latter also shrunk while the user is logged in. If the
1061 <literal>subvolume</literal>, <literal>directory</literal>, <literal>fscrypt</literal> storage
1062 mechanisms are used, resizing will change file system quota. The size parameter may make use of the
1063 usual suffixes B, K, M, G, T (to the base of 1024). The special strings <literal>min</literal> and
1064 <literal>max</literal> may be specified in place of a numeric size value, for minimizing or
1065 maximizing disk space assigned to the home area, taking constraints of the file system, disk usage inside
1066 the home area and on the backing storage into account.</para>
1068 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
1072 <term><command>lock</command> <replaceable>USER</replaceable></term>
1074 <listitem><para>Temporarily suspend access to the user's home directory and remove any associated
1075 cryptographic keys from memory. Any attempts to access the user's home directory will stall until the
1076 home directory is unlocked again (i.e. re-authenticated). This functionality is primarily intended to
1077 be used during system suspend to make sure the user's data cannot be accessed until the user
1078 re-authenticates on resume. This operation is only defined for home directories that use the LUKS2
1079 storage mechanism.</para>
1081 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
1085 <term><command>unlock</command> <replaceable>USER</replaceable></term>
1087 <listitem><para>Resume access to the user's home directory again, undoing the effect of
1088 <command>lock</command> above. This requires authentication of the user, as the cryptographic keys
1089 required for access to the home directory need to be reacquired.</para>
1091 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
1095 <term><command>lock-all</command></term>
1097 <listitem><para>Execute the <command>lock</command> command on all suitable home directories at
1098 once. This operation is generally executed on system suspend (i.e. by <command>systemctl
1099 suspend</command> and related commands), to ensure all active user's cryptographic keys for accessing
1100 their home directories are removed from memory.</para>
1102 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
1106 <term><command>deactivate-all</command></term>
1108 <listitem><para>Execute the <command>deactivate</command> command on all active home directories at
1109 once. This operation is generally executed on system shut down (i.e. by <command>systemctl
1110 poweroff</command> and related commands), to ensure all active user's home directories are fully
1111 deactivated before <filename>/home/</filename> and related file systems are unmounted.</para>
1113 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v247"/></listitem>
1117 <term><command>with</command> <replaceable>USER</replaceable> <replaceable>COMMAND…</replaceable></term>
1119 <listitem><para>Activate the specified user's home directory, run the specified command (under the
1120 caller's identity, not the specified user's) and deactivate the home directory afterwards again
1121 (unless the user is logged in otherwise). This command is useful for running privileged backup
1122 scripts and such, but requires authentication with the user's credentials in order to be able to
1123 unlock the user's home directory.</para>
1125 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v245"/></listitem>
1129 <term><command>rebalance</command></term>
1131 <listitem><para>Rebalance free disk space between active home areas and the backing storage. See
1132 <option>--rebalance-weight=</option> above. This executes no operation unless there's at least one
1133 active LUKS2 home area that has disk space rebalancing enabled. This operation is synchronous: it
1134 will only complete once disk space is rebalanced according to the rebalancing weights. Note that
1135 rebalancing also takes place automatically in the background in regular intervals. Use this command
1136 to synchronously ensure disk space is properly redistributed before initiating an operation requiring
1137 large amounts of disk space.</para>
1139 <xi:include href="version-info.xml" xpointer="v250"/></listitem>
1145 <title>Exit status</title>
1147 <para>On success, 0 is returned, a non-zero failure code otherwise.</para>
1149 <para>When a command is invoked with <command>with</command>, the exit status of the child is
1150 propagated. Effectively, <command>homectl</command> will exit without error if the command is
1151 successfully invoked <emphasis>and</emphasis> finishes successfully.</para>
1154 <xi:include href="common-variables.xml" />
1157 <title>Examples</title>
1160 <title>Create a user <literal>waldo</literal> in the administrator group <literal>wheel</literal>, and
1161 assign 500 MiB disk space to them.</title>
1163 <programlisting>homectl create waldo --real-name="Waldo McWaldo" -G wheel --disk-size=500M</programlisting>
1167 <title>Create a user <literal>wally</literal> on a USB stick, and assign a maximum of 500 concurrent
1168 tasks to them.</title>
1170 <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>
1174 <title>Change nice level of user <literal>odlaw</literal> to +5 and make sure the environment variable
1175 <varname>$SOME</varname> is set to the string <literal>THING</literal> for them on login.</title>
1177 <programlisting>homectl update odlaw --nice=5 --setenv=SOME=THING</programlisting>
1181 <title>Set up authentication with a YubiKey security token using PKCS#11/PIV:</title>
1183 <programlisting># Clear the Yubikey from any old keys (careful!)
1186 # Generate a new private/public key pair on the device, store the public key in 'pubkey.pem'.
1187 ykman piv generate-key -a RSA2048 9d pubkey.pem
1189 # Create a self-signed certificate from this public key, and store it on the device.
1190 ykman piv generate-certificate --subject "Knobelei" 9d pubkey.pem
1192 # We don't need the public key on disk anymore
1195 # Allow the security token to unlock the account of user 'lafcadio'.
1196 homectl update lafcadio --pkcs11-token-uri=auto</programlisting>
1200 <title>Set up authentication with a FIDO2 security token:</title>
1202 <programlisting># Allow a FIDO2 security token to unlock the account of user 'nihilbaxter'.
1203 homectl update nihilbaxter --fido2-device=auto</programlisting>
1208 <title>See Also</title>
1210 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1211 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-homed.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1212 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>homed.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1213 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>userdbctl</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1214 <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>useradd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
1215 <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>cryptsetup</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>