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Date:      Wed, 07 Apr 1999 19:30:03 -0500
From:      David Kelly <dkelly@HiWAAY.net>
To:        Jim Pazarena <paz@ccstores.com>
Cc:        freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: changing shell in passwd 
Message-ID:  <199904080030.TAA57837@nospam.hiwaay.net>
In-Reply-To: Message from Jim Pazarena <paz@ccstores.com>  of "Wed, 07 Apr 1999 01:35:25 PDT." <9904070135.aa17363@dick.ccstores.com> 

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Jim Pazarena writes:
> I installed one 3.1 system, added bash, then added a user with bash as shell.
> No problems with bash as a login shell.
> 
> I installed another 3.1 system, added a user, *then* added bash,
> then changed /etc/passwd to reflect bash as the shell for the user.
> 
> When the use signs on to the second machine he does _not_ get bash; rather
> he gets the original shell EVEN THO /etc/passwd points at bash. A reboot
> didn't change the results.
> 
> What am I missing?

As others have pointed out, if you wish to make brute force changes to 
the user database, one must use vipw(8). What they didn't point out is 
the file /etc/passwd is a fiction which only exists to maintain some 
semblance of compatibility with classic Unix programs which do not use 
the provided libc utilities for access to the user database.

If one wishes only to change a user's shell (or even change your own 
shell) then chsh(1) is a BSDism sorely lacking from other systems such 
as Irix, and (I believe) Solaris.

--
David Kelly N4HHE, dkelly@nospam.hiwaay.net
=====================================================================
The human mind ordinarily operates at only ten percent of its
capacity -- the rest is overhead for the operating system.




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