2 files changed, 12 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/src/libutil/util.cc b/src/libutil/util.cc
index 1b744999153a..6f3bf7ae86e3 100644
--- a/src/libutil/util.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/util.cc
@@ -475,6 +475,16 @@ Path createTempDir(const Path & tmpRoot, const Path & prefix,
 }
 
 
+std::string getUserName()
+{
+    auto pw = getpwuid(geteuid());
+    std::string name = pw ? pw->pw_name : getEnv("USER", "");
+    if (name.empty())
+        throw Error("cannot figure out user name");
+    return name;
+}
+
+
 static Lazy<Path> getHome2([]() {
     Path homeDir = getEnv("HOME");
     if (homeDir.empty()) {
diff --git a/src/libutil/util.hh b/src/libutil/util.hh
index 07c3d28ff2d6..f057fdb2c041 100644
--- a/src/libutil/util.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/util.hh
@@ -126,6 +126,8 @@ void deletePath(const Path & path, unsigned long long & bytesFreed);
 Path createTempDir(const Path & tmpRoot = "", const Path & prefix = "nix",
     bool includePid = true, bool useGlobalCounter = true, mode_t mode = 0755);
 
+std::string getUserName();
+
 /* Return $HOME or the user's home directory from /etc/passwd. */
 Path getHome();