how to get $HOME for the login user ID when "su" has been used

kornelix · 04-06-2008, 05:35 PM

I need to get the home directory of the login user ID as opposed to the effective user ID (which changes when "su" is used). I can get the login user ID ($USERNAME) but I cannot find a way to get the home directory of a known user that is not the current user. I need a shell command like the c-lib getpwent() function. It must be there somewhere but I cannot find it.

blacky_5251 · 04-06-2008, 06:43 PM

Try this:-

Code:

grep $LoggedInUser /etc/passwd | cut -f 6 -d ":"

Where $LoggedInUser holds the value of the user that logged in - not the su'ed user id.

kornelix · 04-07-2008, 03:39 AM

Thank you blacky!!

kornelix · 04-07-2008, 03:45 AM

$LoggedInUser is not defined on my system (Ubuntu) but $USERNAME works.

matthewg42 · 04-07-2008, 04:01 AM

Try using "su -" which will execute the shells login rc files and provide a login-like shell environment.

Having said that, on my debian box, su always sets HOME, no matter if I use the "-" method or not.