B.93. system-config-users

An updated system-config-users package that fixes a bug that caused new user creation to fail in some circumstances is now available.

system-config-users is a graphical utility for administrating users and groups. It depends on the libuser library.

BZ#672822: When creating users, or more specifically their home directories, system-config-users relied on the access() system call to check if a directory was writable (and, consequently, whether a new home directory could be created in the requested location).
The access() system call returns reliable information for POSIX-compliant (or mostly POSIX-compliant) file-systems only. In some cases, therefore, relying on the information returned by access() could result in user creation failing.
If, for example, system-config-users was directed to create a user with a home folder in a directory managed by an auto-mounter (such as /net), access() returned inaccurate information and user creation subsequently failed.
With this update, system-config-users no longer relies on access(), or other operating system functions, in such cases: it now attempts to create the home directory and checks whether it has succeeded in doing so.
As well, if the chosen location is not writable, system-config-users returns an alert to this effect and requests 'a writable location' be chosen rather than simply writing errors to the terminal and failing.

Users should upgrade to this updated package, which resolves this issue.