Re: remove a user

[gfp]

Am 24.02.26 um 15:41 schrieb W. Knight:

On February 24, 2026 7:40:23 AM CST, gfp <g...@posteo.at> wrote:

Am 23.02.26 um 17:29 schrieb W. Knight:

Since it is now just a directory in /home you can remove it and all of its 
contents with

cd /home
#   Dangerous since it deletes everything specified on the commandline and
#   a typo such as having '/' with a space around it
#   can wipe your system (yes I have done that accidentally
#   before).   Use with care.
sudo rm -rf gast.broken.20260202

Cheers, W

I am in the user: gfp
/home
shows 3 users: gfp, gast, gast.broken.20260220
and doing a
sudo rm -rf gast.broken.20260202
asking for password
RET

Did you enter gfp's password here?   If you did and the above doesn't work then 
you can try .

   id                 # should return that you are gfp
   sudo su -   # get a root shell using gfp's account password.
   id                 # should return that you are now root
   cd /home  # Change to home directory
   rm -rf  gast.broken.20260202 # Recursively force remove the directory
   exit             # Leave root and return to gfp account.

This worked now, thanks very much.

It means I had to log in as root and from there deleting the user.

Which is functionally the same thing but maybe sudo has an interaction I am 
unaware of?

this user is still there...

what did I wrong?

this user (directory) has got a key, may be therefore it does not work

I am not sure what it means for the directory to have a key but the only things 
I have seen block root removing a file is...
   - filesystem mounted read-only (ro)
   - the file is on a network mount that has root_squash set
   - a file/directory had 'chattr +i' (immutable) applied
  but I don't think any of those should apply to your situation.

The key symbol in the users name symbolises as you know, that it is secured/you can not easily log in.

I will try to recreate your issue, using the below steps on a test machine, in a bit to confirm that guix isn't doing something I am not expecting.

    - create an account in config.scm and run reconfigure
    - move created home directory to placeholder
    - recreate user home directory by running reconfigure again
    - try to remove placeholder directory

Sorry it didn't work,
   Thinking,
     W

one problem solved


thanks

Gottfried

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