pam_umask 8 Linux-PAM Manual pam_umask PAM module to set the file mode creation mask pam_umask.so debug usergroups 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= argument umask= entry of the users GECOS field pri= entry of the users GECOS field ulimit= entry of the users GECOS field UMASK= entry from /etc/default/login UMASK entry from /etc/login.defs debug Print debug information. usergroups If the user is not root, and the user ID is equal to the group ID, 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). umask=mask Sets the calling process's file mode creation mask (umask) to mask & 0777. The value is interpreted as Octal. Only the session service is supported. PAM_SUCCESS The new umask was set successfull. 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.d8 , pam8 pam_umask was written by Thorsten Kukuk <kukuk@thkukuk.de>.