From: nunojsilva@invalid.invalid   
      
   On 2026-01-22, Anssi Saari wrote:   
      
   > Lawrence D’Oliveiro  writes:   
   >   
   >> On Wed, 21 Jan 2026 22:04:58 +0100, Carlos E.R. wrote:   
   >>   
   >>> If the emergency includes that /home can not be mounted, then you can   
   >>> not login as root, nor as anybody, to correct the issue.   
   >>   
   >> Most Linux distros put the root home directory as /root, not in /home.   
   >   
   > Yes and on occasion when /home hasn't been available, I've just been   
   > logged in as ordinary user with a note saying something like home   
   > directory not available, using / as home. Of course, can't do much when   
   > system is in such a state but can login as user or root.   
      
   I was wondering what was this about, but even if root's $HOME ends up   
   under /home, passwd and shadow are still under /etc, so yes, it should   
   still not prevent logging in? Or are we missing some detail here?   
      
   (Depending on the system (and whether there is encryption and so on), it   
   might also be possible to have a root session without logging in, by   
   replacing sysvinit or systemd (well, whatever gets executed as PID 1) by   
   a shell. Another approach is to get the disks mounted (possibly taking   
   into account encryption) from another system and chroot(1).)   
      
   --   
   Nuno Silva   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)