How to add user without /home

Question

I want to create a new user to run a service on the system but don't want to have /home and other configuration files for it. Like there is a user for postgres but it doesn't have any /home directory.

Answer 1

By default the command useradd doesn't create home directorys, but for a daemon I recommend you also use the system option and change the shell to a non-existent one so no one can login with said account (in ssh for example):

sudo useradd -r -s /bin/false USERNAME

You can see all the options with man useradd and man groupadd if you want to create a group for the user too.

Answer 2

Try adduser --system --no-create-home USERNAME or simply have a look at the manpage of adduser which claims to be a "friendlier front end to the low level tools like useradd...".

Answer 3

try this command:

sudo useradd vivek

This will create a user without creating your home folder at /home/vivek