Files from `/etc/skel` not copied

[bforte]

Qubes OS version: R4.0

Affected component(s):

Using /etc/skel with several template VMs (tested with fedora-26, fedora-26-minimal and clones thereof)

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

Outputs (except for ls -l omitted):

[user@dom0]$ qvm-clone fedora-26 some-fancy-name
[user@dom0]$ qvm-run -u root some-fancy-name xterm
[user@some-fancy-name]$ touch /etc/skel/foo
[user@some-fancy-name]$ ls -l /etc/skel
total 0
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Apr  1 02:05 /etc/skel/foo
[user@some-fancy-name]$ exit
[user@dom0]$ qvm-shutdown some-fancy-name
[user@dom0]$ qvm-create -t some-fancy-name another-fancy-name -l yellow
[user@dom0]$ qvm-run another-fancy-name xterm
[user@another-fancy-name]$ ls -l
total 32
drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 4096 Apr  1 02:08 Desktop
drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 4096 Apr  1 02:08 Documents
drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 4096 Apr  1 02:08 Downloads
drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 4096 Apr  1 02:08 Music
drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 4096 Apr  1 02:08 Pictures
drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 4096 Apr  1 02:08 Public
drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 4096 Apr  1 02:08 Templates
drwxr-xr-x 2 user user 4096 Apr  1 02:08 Videos
[user@another-fancy-name]$ ls -l /etc/skel
total 0
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Apr  1 02:13 foo

Expected behavior:

The file foo should be placed in /home/user.

Actual behavior:

The file foo is not placed in /home/user.

General notes:

I tried it several times, using the cli-tools as well as the gui-tools with several TemplateVMs.

Related issues:

Document change in TemplateVM home directory inheritance behavior #3196

[bforte]

I just noticed that there is a folder /home.orig/user in the TemplateVMs which seems to do what /etc/skel is supposed to (ie. adding files to that folder they will get copied to the /home/user directory of newly created AppVMs). If this is the intention then this should probably be documented.

Also in newly created AppVMs there are both /home.orig/user and /home/user which (initially) contain the same files, this seems somehow redundant (probably this won't bother a lot of people since usually no big files will be placed there).

[bforte]

I just noticed that there is a folder /home.orig/user in the TemplateVMs which seems to do what /etc/skel is supposed to (ie. adding files to that folder they will get copied to the /home/user directory of newly created AppVMs). If this is the intention then this should probably be documented.

Also in newly created AppVMs there are both /home.orig/user and /home/user which (initially) contain the same files, this seems somehow redundant (probably this won't bother a lot of people since usually no big files will be placed there).

[qubesos-bot]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The component core-agent-linux (including package python2-dnf-plugins-qubes-hooks-4.0.25-1.fc26) has been pushed to the r4.0 testing repository for the Fedora template.
To test this update, please install it with the following command:

sudo yum update --enablerepo=qubes-vm-r4.0-current-testing

Changes included in this update

[qubesos-bot]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The component core-agent-linux (including package python2-dnf-plugins-qubes-hooks-4.0.25-1.fc26) has been pushed to the r4.0 testing repository for the Fedora template.
To test this update, please install it with the following command:

sudo yum update --enablerepo=qubes-vm-r4.0-current-testing

Changes included in this update

[qubesos-bot]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package qubes-core-agent_4.0.25-1+deb9u1 has been pushed to the r4.0 testing repository for the Debian template.
To test this update, first enable the testing repository in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/qubes-*.list by uncommenting the line containing stretch-testing (or appropriate equivalent for your template version), then use the standard update command:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Changes included in this update

[qubesos-bot]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package qubes-core-agent_4.0.25-1+deb9u1 has been pushed to the r4.0 testing repository for the Debian template.
To test this update, first enable the testing repository in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/qubes-*.list by uncommenting the line containing stretch-testing (or appropriate equivalent for your template version), then use the standard update command:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Changes included in this update

[qubesos-bot]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package core-agent-linux has been pushed to the r4.0 testing repository for the CentOS centos7 template.
To test this update, please install it with the following command:

sudo yum update --enablerepo=qubes-vm-r4.0-current-testing

Changes included in this update

[qubesos-bot]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package core-agent-linux has been pushed to the r4.0 testing repository for the CentOS centos7 template.
To test this update, please install it with the following command:

sudo yum update --enablerepo=qubes-vm-r4.0-current-testing

Changes included in this update

[qubesos-bot]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The component core-agent-linux (including package python2-dnf-plugins-qubes-hooks-4.0.28-1.fc26) has been pushed to the r4.0 stable repository for the Fedora template.
To install this update, please use the standard update command:

sudo yum update

Changes included in this update

[qubesos-bot]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The component core-agent-linux (including package python2-dnf-plugins-qubes-hooks-4.0.28-1.fc26) has been pushed to the r4.0 stable repository for the Fedora template.
To install this update, please use the standard update command:

sudo yum update

Changes included in this update

[qubesos-bot]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package core-agent-linux has been pushed to the r4.0 stable repository for the Fedora centos7 template.
To install this update, please use the standard update command:

sudo yum update

Changes included in this update

[qubesos-bot]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package core-agent-linux has been pushed to the r4.0 stable repository for the Fedora centos7 template.
To install this update, please use the standard update command:

sudo yum update

Changes included in this update

[qubesos-bot]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package qubes-core-agent_4.0.28-1+deb9u1 has been pushed to the r4.0 stable repository for the Debian template.
To install this update, please use the standard update command:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Changes included in this update

[qubesos-bot]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package qubes-core-agent_4.0.28-1+deb9u1 has been pushed to the r4.0 stable repository for the Debian template.
To install this update, please use the standard update command:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Changes included in this update