using 'usermod'

[PapaParrot]

I had a problem with the original user, that was setup in the default install, and was not able to login any more, so I deleted that user:

# userdel garry

,
Ok, then used:

# adduser

To make a new user, and that worked ok, "garry", can now loging again,...but it also created a new directory,

/home/garry/garry

The second dir, is empty, when I log in that is where I end up, which is no big deal, but I would rather just have the 1 "garry" dir, instead of 2. The first dir: /home/garry
has all my files, etc and seems fine, but when I try to move or remove, the empty dir ,
again, "garry" can no longer login.
Looking at 'man usermod' :

-d home-directory
Sets the home directory to home-directory without
populating it; if the -m option is specified,
tries to move the old home directory to
home-directory.
========
-m Moves the home directory from its old position to
the new one. If -d is not specified, the
new-user argument of the -l option is used; one
of -d and -l is needed.

===
Seems straight forward, but I seem to be not getting the syntax right,...
for example I tried:

# usermod -d garry /home/garry

Did not work, so:

# usermod -dm /home/garry  garry

and still no good, also tried a few others , all ways resulted in me needing to start over,..
So anyway, I want to try to get it to where I just have /home/garry , and garry can still log in, but it appears the second dir /home/garry/garry is essential to me being able to login in, so what is the best way to remove that, and just have 1 dir. "garry" ? Thanks

[jggimi]

Read the syntax in the man page again. Your use of "-d garry /home/garry" and "-dm /home/garry" are both invalid.

-d must be followed *immediately* by the new directory. Not by the user, not by -m.


Moving files from within /home/garry/garry to /home/garry may cause recursion issues. You might instead use chpass(8) to edit the user's entry, then move files manually.

[PapaParrot]

Ok, thanks