OpenSolaris

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Bug ID 6836624
Synopsis error emitted when useradd(1M) -m fails is cryptic
State 1-Dispatched (Default State)
Category:Subcategory utility:security
Keywords oss-bite-size
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Reported Against
Duplicate Of
Introduced In
Commit to Fix
Fixed In
Release Fixed
Related Bugs
Submit Date 1-May-2009
Last Update Date 1-May-2009
Description
An OpenSolaris user noted the error message emitted when useradd(1M) -m fails:

esaxe@jet:~# useradd -m joe_user
UX: useradd: ERROR: Unable to create the home directory: Operation not applicable.

It turns out the reason for this, is that the default base for a new home directory creation is /home, and because /home isn't writable by default (as it is generally used as an NFS mount point by the automounter), useradd wasen't able to create the home directory.

However, this really isn't clear from the error message. As this is an easy to encounter out of the box error (especially for users just getting their feet wet with OpenSolaris), useradd(1M) should really be fixed to be more helpful.
Work Around
N/A
Comments
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