Using root as a user is rarely a good idea. In fact, even on a one user computer with no net connection, it's a bad idea. Though I would imagine that the ISP would be happy enough with taint checking, this may be an appropriate time to ask for a new user with the appropriate rights (an "underadmin"). It surprises me that an ISP would actually give you any type of root access. Especially for something as simple as creating dirs, it's really not necessary. You might also want to use an exclusive filter on the username such as only alphanumeric chars allowed. A aptly-placed '/' could reak havoc on your entire setup. Be sure that this is a positive regex, don't check for characters that are NOT allowed; instead drop the name if the chars don't match a strict regex of whatever you wish to be allowed.

Also, like on most linux distros, it may be more appropriate to use a skeleton feature- a dud directory where it is simply copied on demand and its permissions set. This will allow for quicker tweaking of the initial setup in the long run (it's best not to hard code it in).

***btw. folks, what ever happened to suidperl? Did it go down flaming in controversy????

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