diff -up shadow-4.1.5.1/man/newusers.8.xml.info-parent-dir shadow-4.1.5.1/man/newusers.8.xml
--- shadow-4.1.5.1/man/newusers.8.xml.info-parent-dir	2012-05-25 13:45:28.000000000 +0200
+++ shadow-4.1.5.1/man/newusers.8.xml	2012-09-19 18:46:35.651613365 +0200
@@ -216,7 +216,15 @@
 	  <para>
 	    If this field does not specify an existing directory, the
 	    specified directory is created, with ownership set to the
-	    user being created or updated and its primary group.
+	    user being created or updated and its primary group. Note 
+            that newusers does not create parent directories of the new 
+            user's home directory. The newusers command will fail to 
+            create the home directory if the parent directories do not 
+            exist, and will send a message to stderr informing the user 
+            of the failure. The newusers command will not halt or return 
+            a failure to the calling shell if it fails to create the home 
+            directory, it will continue to process the batch of new users 
+            specified.
 	  </para>
 	  <para>
 	    If the home directory of an existing user is changed,