Home Directories & Skeleton Files

A home directory is the personal folder of a user.

Default location:

/home/username

Example:

/home/aryan

Purpose

Stores:

1. User files
2. Downloads
3. Configurations
4. Scripts
5. Hidden files

Example

ls /home/aryan

Important Hidden Files

.bashrc
.profile
.ssh

Create User with Home Directory

sudo useradd -m devuser

Creates:

/home/devuser

1. Skeleton Files

Skeleton files are default files copied to every new user's home directory.

Example

ls /etc/skel

Output:

.bashrc
.profile
.bash_logout

How It Works

When new user is created:

sudo useradd -m devuser

Linux copies files from:

/etc/skel

to:

/home/devuser

Real-World Example

Add default welcome file:

echo "Welcome DevOps Team" | sudo tee /etc/skel/welcome.txt

Now every new user gets:

welcome.txt

in home directory.

Quick Difference

Home Directory	Skeleton Files
Personal user folder	Default template files
/home/user	/etc/skel
Stores user data	Creates default setup