change home directory name

Michael Butash michael at butash.net
Tue Apr 3 00:25:46 MST 2012


In theory just "chmod -r bmike2:bmike2 /home/bmike1" and "mv 
/home/bmike1/* /home/bmike2/".  Might need to do so for "mv 
/home/bmike1/.* /home/bmike2/" as well for hidden directories.

You're working without a net (or space to make a backup copy), so make 
real damn sure you note where you are and where you're moving files to. 
Fully qualify the paths to be sure as you work.

-mb


On 04/02/2012 11:57 PM, Michael Havens wrote:
> lovely..... because it ran out of space my old user can't log in to the
> gui. I try logging in to a terminal as <new user> and it says:
>
>    root at Michaels-PC:~# su bmike2
>    To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo <command>".
>    See "man sudo_root" for details.
>    bash: bmike2/.bashrc: Permission denied
>    bmike2 at Michaels-PC:/root$
>
> I just looked at /home and it seems that what happened is it changed the
> user name and barfed when it was coopying the files and so it left me
> with the new user name and the old directory. So please..... how do I
> associate the new user name with the old directory? Would I still use
> usermod
> ..... Well, I figured I didn't have anything to lose by trying it and I
> found out that didn't work. Because the user was changed while the
> previous command was in process user bmike1 doesn't exist.... I bet I
> know what's going on!everything is owned by user bmike1 (who doesn't
> exist anymore) so when bmike2 tried to access .bashrc it said 'nope'. So
> I think I figured out the problem! (this is exciting)(I'll be a regular
> computer wizard soon!) If what I think is the problem is is correct the
> solution would be 'find -r /home/bmike1 * | chown bmike2'. Would this
> work? Are there programs not owned by the user in it's directory? What
> about them (if there are)?
>
> On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 2:34 PM, Michael Havens <bmike1 at gmail.com
> <mailto:bmike1 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     Well, I guess I don't really need to change the directory's name. So
>     I suppose just
>
>     'usermod -l <newuser> <old user>'
>
>
>     On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 2:23 PM, Michael Butash <michael at butash.net
>     <mailto:michael at butash.net>> wrote:
>
>         Add some?  :)
>
>         Actually it sounds like it's "copying, then deleting" (safe) vs.
>         "moving", so if you're short diskspace, you'll need to just move
>         it, change your /etc/passwd and group file for the user/uid, and
>         chown -r the directory to the new username/uid.
>
>         Matrix's method presumes you have temp disk space, but looks
>         like you're doing it the hard way manipulating ownerships and
>         such from root user.
>
>         -mb
>
>
>
>         On 04/02/2012 02:09 PM, Michael Havens wrote:
>
>             hmmmmm. It just ran out of disk space. Any suggestions on
>             what I can do
>             about that?
>
>             On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 1:58 PM, Michael Havens
>             <bmike1 at gmail.com <mailto:bmike1 at gmail.com>
>             <mailto:bmike1 at gmail.com <mailto:bmike1 at gmail.com>>> wrote:
>
>                 thanks for explainig the rationale of putting the old
>             user name last.
>
>
>                 On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 1:33 PM, Matrix Mole
>             <matrixm at gmail.com <mailto:matrixm at gmail.com>
>             <mailto:matrixm at gmail.com <mailto:matrixm at gmail.com>>> wrote:
>
>                     If the account you are trying to change is your
>             current account,
>                     it may be easier to login as root to make the
>             changes (just to
>                     prevent any existing programs in memory trying to
>             use the old
>                     username/directory). I'd also use the command as
>             follows:
>
>                     usermod -l <newuser> -md <newuser> <olduser>
>
>                     since an existing username needs to be at the end
>             (so the
>                     command knows what user account to modify).
>
>
>                     On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 1:26 PM, Michael Havens
>             <bmike1 at gmail.com <mailto:bmike1 at gmail.com>
>             <mailto:bmike1 at gmail.com <mailto:bmike1 at gmail.com>>> wrote:
>
>                         I'll use usermod then. Thanks for letting me
>             know about it.
>                         so I think this is the proper syntax. Will this
>             work?
>
>                            sudo usermod -l <olduser> <newuser> -dm <newuser>
>
>
>                         On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 1:13 PM, Matrix Mole
>             <matrixm at gmail.com <mailto:matrixm at gmail.com>
>             <mailto:matrixm at gmail.com <mailto:matrixm at gmail.com>>> wrote:
>
>                             If you are changing your username, there is
>             flags to the
>                             usermod command that can help change the
>             home directory.
>                             The -d flag to usermod will update
>             /etc/passwd with the
>                             users home directory, and the -m flag will
>             move the old
>                             directory to the new name. I'm pretty sure
>             that usermod
>                             will also take care of the ownership issues
>             as well.
>                             Check 'man usermod' for more details on
>             this. If you
>                             don't use the usermod command, then there is
>             also the
>                             ownership issue to consider with changing home
>                             directory. The chown command can help make
>             sure the
>                             directory is owned by the correct user with
>             'chown -R
>                             {username} [homedir]' command.
>
>
>
>                             On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 1:00 PM, Michael Havens
>             <bmike1 at gmail.com <mailto:bmike1 at gmail.com>
>             <mailto:bmike1 at gmail.com <mailto:bmike1 at gmail.com>>> wrote:
>
>                                 Thanks. Is that the only thing I have to
>             worry about?
>
>
>                                 On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 12:57 PM,
>             Patricia Wilson
>             <wilson.pr.gm at gmail.com <mailto:wilson.pr.gm at gmail.com>
>             <mailto:wilson.pr.gm at gmail.com
>             <mailto:wilson.pr.gm at gmail.com>__>> wrote:
>
>                                     Note that your home directory name
>             appears in
>                                     the /etc/passwd file so the system
>             knows where
>                                     you "live" when you login. If you
>             change the
>                                     name of that directory you need to
>             change your
>                                     entry in the passwd file to match.
>
>                                     On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 12:17 PM,
>             Michael Havens
>             <bmike1 at gmail.com <mailto:bmike1 at gmail.com>
>             <mailto:bmike1 at gmail.com <mailto:bmike1 at gmail.com>>> wrote:
>
>                                         How would I accomplish this? Is
>             it as easy
>                                         as just moving the old name to
>             the new name;
>                                         or should I do a 'find -r / <old
>                                         directory>|mv - <newdirectory'?
>
>                                         --
>                                         :-)~MIKE~(-:
>
>
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>                                     --
>                                     Sent from my super hot-shot dual
>             core 64 bit
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