What happens to a file outside the home directory when the owner’s account is deleted?

When an owner's account is deleted, the files they owned do not automatically get deleted. Instead, the ownership and permissions of these files remain unchanged. Each file on a Linux system has an associated user ID (UID) that determines the ownership, and when the user account is removed, the files still retain their original UID, even if the corresponding username is no longer valid. This means that while the files still exist on the filesystem, they might be accessible to other users depending on the file permissions set on them.

Consequently, others might still be able to view or manipulate those files if the permissions allow it, despite the original owner no longer having an account on the system. The deletion of the user's account affects access controls in a limited way; however, the files themselves are not lost and remain intact within the system. This is crucial for understanding how file ownership and permissions work in the Linux filesystem.