UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

The man pages for useradd show the -k flag as a option, problem is I don't know what the description means. Could someone explain what "an alternative skel directory" is?
Is skel an acronym?
Thanks


From the man page:
-k, --skel skeldir
Specify an alternative skel directory. This option is only
valid, if the home directory for the new user should be cre‐
ated, too. If not specified, the default from
/etc/default/useradd or /etc/skel is used.

The /etc/skel directory is where files template are stored for new users, for example, you will find the .profile file under /etc/skel. So when you will create a new user, it will copy /etc/skel/.profile file to your new user home directory. The -k option let you specify another directory where your template are.