Linux / UNIX Bash: Copy Set of Files to All Users Home Directory

If you would like to copy a set of files for all existing users, use the following scripting trick. It will save lots of manual work.

First you need to grab all user names from /etc/passwd file using the cut command:
# cut -d: -f1 /etc/passwd
However, the above will grab all system account too. To grab only user account (UID >= 500), enter:
# awk -F':' '{ if ( $3 >= 500 ) print $1 }' /etc/passwd
Next, you can use the shell for loop command to copy file(s) and set the correct permissions on the file. The id command can be used to obtain the correct user ID and group ID for each user.

Copy Single File To All Users Home Directory

#!/bin/bash
UHOME="/home"
FILE="/nas05/.newconfig-file"
 # get list of all users
_USERS="$(awk -F':' '{ if ( $3 >= 500 ) print $1 }' /etc/passwd)"
for u in $_USERS
do
   _dir="${UHOME}/${u}"
   if [ -d "$_dir" ]
   then
       /bin/cp "$FILE" "$_dir"
      chown $(id -un $u):$(id -gn $u) "$_dir/${FILE}"
   fi
done

Copy Multiple Files To All Users Home Directory

You can also copy multiple files using inner and outer loop concept:

#!/bin/bash
UHOME="/home"
# note wild card allowed
_FILES="/etc/skel/.newconfig-file /etc/skek/.update-config /chroot/jail/.force.conf /nas05/perl/*.pl"
_USERS="$(awk -F':' '{ if ( $3 >= 500 ) print $1 }' /etc/passwd)" # get list of all users
for u in $_USERS
do
  for f in $_FILES
  do
     _dir="${UHOME}/${u}"
     if [ -d "$_dir" ]
     then
       /bin/cp -f "${f}" "$_dir"
       chown $(id -un $u):$(id -gn $u) "${_dir}/${f}"
     fi
  done
done

As pointed out by our readers (see comments below), you need to add additional security check such as:

• User should be a normal user (hint: use awk -F’:’ { if ( $2 >= 500 )… )
• User must have a directory (hint: use [ -f dir ] syntax)
• User must have a valid password / account. (hint: use /etc/passwd to verify the same)

This is left as exercise for the reader.

Updated for accuracy.