pam_umask 8 Linux-PAM Linux-PAM Manual pam_umask PAM module to set the file mode creation mask pam_umask.so debug silent usergroups nousergroups umask=mask pam_umask is a PAM module to set the file mode creation mask of the current environment. The umask affects the default permissions assigned to newly created files. The PAM module tries to get the umask value from the following places in the following order: umask= entry in the user's GECOS field (see below for details) umask= argument UMASK entry from /etc/login.defs UMASK= entry from /etc/default/login The GECOS field is split on comma ',' characters. Entries must be set in its 'other' (sub-)field (the 5th field within the GECOS field), which could be done, for example, using chfn --other. In addition to the umask= entry, the module also recognizes the pri= entry, which sets the nice priority value for the session, and the ulimit= entry, which sets the maximum size of files the processes in the session can create. debug Print debug information. silent Don't print informative messages. usergroups If the user is not root and the username is the same as primary group name, the umask group bits are set to be the same as owner bits (examples: 022 -> 002, 077 -> 007). nousergroups This is the direct opposite of the usergroups option described above, which can be useful in case pam_umask has been compiled with usergroups enabled by default and you want to disable it at runtime. umask=mask Sets the calling process's file mode creation mask (umask) to mask & 0777. The value is interpreted as Octal. Only the session type is provided. PAM_SUCCESS The new umask was set successfully. PAM_BUF_ERR Memory buffer error. PAM_CONV_ERR The conversation method supplied by the application failed to obtain the username. PAM_INCOMPLETE The conversation method supplied by the application returned PAM_CONV_AGAIN. PAM_SERVICE_ERR No username was given. PAM_USER_UNKNOWN User not known. Add the following line to /etc/pam.d/login to set the user specific umask at login: session optional pam_umask.so umask=0022 pam.conf5 , pam.d5 , pam8 pam_umask was written by Thorsten Kukuk <kukuk@thkukuk.de>.