From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Dec 1 13:46:16 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CDF9416A420 for ; Sat, 1 Dec 2007 13:46:16 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd-questions@slightlystrange.org) Received: from catflap.slightlystrange.org (cpc5-cmbg1-0-0-cust497.cmbg.cable.ntl.com [86.6.1.242]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 658AC13C465 for ; Sat, 1 Dec 2007 13:46:16 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd-questions@slightlystrange.org) Received: by catflap.slightlystrange.org (Postfix, from userid 106) id 9AFFD6456; Sat, 1 Dec 2007 13:46:14 +0000 (GMT) Received: from torus.slightlystrange.org (torus.slightlystrange.org [10.1.3.50]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by catflap.slightlystrange.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EB76C61A1; Sat, 1 Dec 2007 13:46:13 +0000 (GMT) Received: (from danielby@localhost) by torus.slightlystrange.org (8.14.2/8.13.4/Submit) id lB1DkCRp004259; Sat, 1 Dec 2007 13:46:12 GMT (envelope-from freebsd-questions@slightlystrange.org) Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 13:46:12 +0000 From: Daniel Bye To: "freebsd-questions@freebsd.org" Message-ID: <20071201134611.GA1533@torus.slightlystrange.org> Mail-Followup-To: "freebsd-questions@freebsd.org" , John Murphy References: <20071201044427.38bd2c84@asus.freeode.co.uk> <20071201131526.GA32885@owl.midgard.homeip.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="Dxnq1zWXvFF0Q93v" Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20071201131526.GA32885@owl.midgard.homeip.net> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.3i X-PGP-Fingerprint: D349 B109 0EB8 2554 4D75 B79A 8B17 F97C 1622 166A Cc: John Murphy Subject: Re: What's the point of the shell choice in single user mode? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Daniel Bye List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 01 Dec 2007 13:46:17 -0000 --Dxnq1zWXvFF0Q93v Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Sat, Dec 01, 2007 at 02:15:26PM +0100, Erik Trulsson wrote: > On Sat, Dec 01, 2007 at 04:44:27AM +0000, John Murphy wrote: > > I've just successfully done the world and kernel upgrade from 7 beta2 > > to beta3. I've always had a mergemaster phobia, but it didn't seem too > > bad this time. I thought I'd broken it after choosing /bin/tcsh as my > > shell in single user mode. It grumbled about termcap (I think) and > > then gave me a "simple shell" with a % prompt. > >=20 > > fsck and mount were unknown commands and even though I could change > > directory to /usr or /home they were (apparently) empty! Scary! > > I now realise it was because they were not mounted of course. > >=20 > > I'll know to always accept the suggested /bin/sh in future, but I was > > wondering if the only reason a choice of a different shell is offered > > is to scare the unwary. >=20 > On possible scenario is that /bin/sh has - somehow - been corrupted, dele= ted > or otherwise made unusable. In that situation it is very nice to be able= to > choose some other shell so you can at least try to fix the problem. And some individuals even seem to prefer [t]csh over sh! I know, what's that all about? ;-P (runs to a safe distance to watch the fireworks...) John - you would have had the same experience had you selected sh - only the root file system is mounted if you come up into single user, which is why the installworld instructions tell you to mount all your other local file systems. As for fsck and mount being unknown, I suspect that's due to a very conservative initial PATH under tcsh, but as I don't use it, I don't know for sure. And the termcap grumble is=20 because /etc/termcap is actually a symlink to /usr/share/misc/termcap, which on your system is evidently not on your / fs. Dan --=20 Daniel Bye _ ASCII ribbon campaign ( ) - against HTML, vCards and X - proprietary attachments in e-mail / \ --Dxnq1zWXvFF0Q93v Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.4 (FreeBSD) iD8DBQFHUWWjixf5fBYiFmoRAnb1AJ4gE5tMe/nzo9VFpiQccGlcoHWh6ACfTBUM cggFvjZ6dSR5BQJCuAWOWH0= =wljD -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --Dxnq1zWXvFF0Q93v--