[SOLVED] HOME env variable set to / instead of homedir after login

nhaesler · 2025-10-17 08:20:15

Hi everyone,

since a recent upgrade about three weeks ago the HOME environment variable is being set to / after logging in on the console. I'm not using a display manager, normally my .bash_profile script would start up sway and the rest of my desktop session. But because HOME is set incorrectly, this isn't executed at all. This only happens on one machine, an almost identical arch setup on my laptop works fine.

I haven't changed any configuration, only upgraded the system. I know that HOME is supposed to be set by the login program to the home directory declared in /etc/passwd, that value is still correct though. I changed the permissions on my homedir to 751, this didn't fix it.

Not sure how to debug this issue so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Last edited by nhaesler (2025-10-17 18:10:15)

gromit · 2025-10-17 08:46:37

Whats the output of "getent passwd $USER" for you?

nhaesler · 2025-10-17 08:54:09

Thank you, the output is

[nico@nico-tower ~]$ getent passwd $USER
nico:x:1000:1000::/home/nico:/bin/bash

gromit · 2025-10-17 09:38:52

Hm I guess that works well .. Any custom configuration for $HOME? You could maybe do a full search in "/etc":

sudo grep -nrw "HOME" /etc

nhaesler · 2025-10-17 09:51:08

I haven't made any config changes lately, but here's the output, I don't see anything odd there unfortunately. I suspected that maybe pam might have something to do with it, but I can't find any pam configuration that might cause this. There's nothing uncommented in /etc/environment or /etc/security/pam_env.conf

[nico@nico-tower ~]$ sudo grep -nrw "HOME" /etc
/etc/prrte/prte-mca-params.conf:24:# "$HOME/.prte/mca-params.conf:$sysconf/prte-mca-params.conf"
/etc/security/namespace.conf:24:# polyinstantiation. The parent directories (except $HOME) are created
/etc/security/namespace.conf:31:#$HOME $HOME/$USER.inst/ level
/etc/security/pam_env.conf:45:# For example, HOME is used below several times, but
/etc/security/pam_env.conf:65:#PATH DEFAULT=${HOME}/bin:/usr/local/bin:/bin\
/etc/profile.d/debuginfod.csh:1:# $HOME/.login* or similar files may first set $DEBUGINFOD_URLS.
/etc/profile.d/debuginfod.csh:3:# $HOME/.*rc or similar files may then amend $DEBUGINFOD_URLS.
/etc/profile.d/locale.sh:9: elif [ -n "$HOME" ] && [ -r "$HOME/.config/locale.conf" ]; then
/etc/profile.d/locale.sh:10: . "$HOME/.config/locale.conf"
/etc/profile.d/debuginfod.sh:1:# $HOME/.profile* or similar files may first set $DEBUGINFOD_URLS.
/etc/profile.d/debuginfod.sh:3:# $HOME/.*rc or similar files may then amend $DEBUGINFOD_URLS.
/etc/openpmix/pmix-mca-params.conf:25:# "$HOME/.pmix/mca-params.conf:$sysconf/pmix-mca-params.conf"
/etc/sudoers:41:## Run X applications through sudo; HOME is used to find the
/etc/sudoers:42:## .Xauthority file. Note that other programs use HOME to find
/etc/sudoers:44:# Defaults env_keep += "HOME"
/etc/ssl/openssl.cnf:12:# This definition stops the following lines choking if HOME isn't
/etc/ssl/openssl.cnf:14:HOME = .
/etc/ssl/openssl.cnf:23:# oid_file = $ENV::HOME/.oid
/etc/ssl/openssl.cnf.dist:12:# This definition stops the following lines choking if HOME isn't
/etc/ssl/openssl.cnf.dist:14:HOME = .
/etc/ssl/openssl.cnf.dist:23:# oid_file = $ENV::HOME/.oid
/etc/openmpi/openmpi-mca-params.conf:24:# "$HOME/.openmpi/mca-params.conf:$sysconf/openmpi-mca-params.conf"
/etc/default/useradd:11:HOME=/home
/etc/bash.bashrc:15: PROMPT_COMMAND+=('printf "\033]0;%s@%s:%s\007" "${USER}" "${HOSTNAME%%.*}" "${PWD/#$HOME/\~}"')
/etc/bash.bashrc:18: PROMPT_COMMAND+=('printf "\033_%s@%s:%s\033\\" "${USER}" "${HOSTNAME%%.*}" "${PWD/#$HOME/\~}"')
/etc/sudoers.pacnew:59:## Run X applications through sudo; HOME is used to find the
/etc/sudoers.pacnew:60:## .Xauthority file. Note that other programs use HOME to find
/etc/sudoers.pacnew:62:# Defaults env_keep += "HOME"

seth · 2025-10-17 10:32:51

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=308429

nhaesler · 2025-10-17 10:50:28

@seth That solved the problem for me, thank you so much! Never would have thought that minidlna could be at fault

seth · 2025-10-17 12:39:08

\o/
Please always remember to mark resolved threads by editing your initial posts subject - so others will know that there's no task left, but maybe a solution to find.
Thanks.

Arch Linux

#1 2025-10-17 08:20:15

[SOLVED] HOME env variable set to / instead of homedir after login

#2 2025-10-17 08:46:37

Re: [SOLVED] HOME env variable set to / instead of homedir after login

#3 2025-10-17 08:54:09

Re: [SOLVED] HOME env variable set to / instead of homedir after login

#4 2025-10-17 09:38:52

Re: [SOLVED] HOME env variable set to / instead of homedir after login

#5 2025-10-17 09:51:08

Re: [SOLVED] HOME env variable set to / instead of homedir after login

#6 2025-10-17 10:32:51

Re: [SOLVED] HOME env variable set to / instead of homedir after login

#7 2025-10-17 10:50:28

Re: [SOLVED] HOME env variable set to / instead of homedir after login

#8 2025-10-17 12:39:08

Re: [SOLVED] HOME env variable set to / instead of homedir after login

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