bug#24275: Misnamed directory in GuixSD

[Alex Kost]

Leo Famulari (2016-08-22 02:14 +0300) wrote:

> On Sat, Aug 20, 2016 at 10:11:00PM +0200, John Darrington wrote:
>> Installing GuixSD 0.11.0 creates a directory called /nonexistent
>> Despite its name, it does actually exist.
>
> I checked, and it's the 'nobody' user's home directory:
> http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/guix.git/tree/gnu/system/shadow.scm#n125
>
>> I suggest that we rename it or delete it.
>
> I think it's very appropriate for nobody to live in a nonexistent
> directory ;)
>
> But, I noticed that the directory doesn't exist on my GuixSD system,
> which has been reconfigured since the commit that introduced this
> directory (2d94702ff). My nobody is still using '/var/empty'.

The same for me.

> I wonder if that's a problem?

IIUC it happens because the home directory is created only when a user
is added, and is not changed when the user is modified.  See (gnu build
activation) module:

- 'add-user' runs "useradd" with "-d" option to create home dir

- 'modify-user' runs "usermod" without "-d" (and without "--move-home")

So the home of nobody was not changed for us to '/nonexistent' when the
nobody user was changed.

As for me, I wouldn't like to have this directory, and I think it
shouldn't be created (if it is not really needed for nobody user).

-- 
Alex