What directory should I use for the user apache?

Question

I have installed apache from the source with:prefix=/usr sysconfdir=/etc/httpd/ localstatedir=/var.

useradd -g apache -d /usr/apache -s /sbin/nologin apache

When installing things from source, generally you should use a prefix of /usr/local, to keep things separate from software provided by your OS.
Yes, I know. This is a test, I am learning how to make distribution packages.

Totor · Accepted Answer · 2013-01-13 15:22:19Z

up vote 1 down vote accepted

If you wonder about the home directory, it should not matter that much, because it will probably not change the behavior of apache at all.

On Debian, the default homedir for the user running apache is /var/www (which is the default DocumentRoot).

Also, if you're on a Debian-based distrib, you should prefer using adduser instead of useradd which is quite low level.

edited Jan 13 at 15:22

answered Jan 13 at 1:35

Totor
85612

	I am pretty sure `adduser` is a symlink to `useradd` in RHEL. The upstream for `adduser` in Debian, is actually Debian, so I would consider it Debian-specific. – jordanm Jan 13 at 6:30
	Corrected, thanks! – Totor Jan 13 at 15:22

1 Answer