I agree, the default home directory permissions work against the system owner rather than helping. This is the kind of configuration that I would have expected RMS to have been in favor of in the 1970s at MIT - https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/richard-stallman-13421.php In 2021, defaulting to mode 755 for home directories is an anachronism at best. Even in the 1990s, home directories on shell accounts were typically set to mode 711 (go+x to allow httpd into ~/public_html) Peter ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: Please be aware that unencrypted electronic mail is not secure. For this reason, please do not send any sensitive personal information such as your address, driver license, policy number, Social Security Number, or claims information by unencrypted electronic mail. The information contained in this message may be privileged and confidential and protected from disclosure. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or an employee or agent responsible for delivering this message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying to the message and deleting it from your computer. Thank you.