User Account Initialization

In the previous section, we discussed creating users and groups. Now let’s look a little deeper at what happens during this creation process and how it can be customized. When a user is created, everything from the /etc/skel directory is copied to the user’s newly created home directory (usually /home/<username>). You can modify these “skeleton” files or can add your own custom files. The benefit here is that user creation becomes standardized, ensuring that policies are adhered to. The customizable files are broken down into two different sections: user-specific files and system-wide settings.

User-Specific Files

After a user is created and his home directory is populated, that user can now customize those files to fit his own personal needs. For example, the user might like to have certain PATH values or specific environment variables set. The following three files allow a user to customize the login experience to his own style: