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Date:      Mon, 26 Jul 1999 08:41:30 -0400 (EDT)
From:      Seth <seth@freebie.dp.ny.frb.org>
To:        Summoner <summoner@uswest.net>
Cc:        John Armstrong <siberian@siberian.org>, freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: What to tell to Linux-centric people?!
Message-ID:  <Pine.BSF.4.10.9907260836520.567-100000@freebie.dp.ny.frb.org>
In-Reply-To: <37991278.5324A70B@uswest.net>

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Don't know whether this has been addressed yet, but it seems to have
bitten a LOT of people.

Changing root's default shell is not a very good idea unless you're aware
of the ramifications.  Let's assume you DO have a need to change it (to
bash, or zsh, or whatever).  Here are things you absolutely must make sure
of:

1)  That the shell is listed in /etc/shells.  Failure to do this will
prevent that shell from being executed on login.

2)  That the shell is statically linked!  This is a MUST.  In the event
that you find your shared libraries hosed, you will not be able to execute
any program that requires the use of those (damaged) shared libs.  A
statically linked shell will not have dependencies on any shared libs.

3)  Also, be aware of the 'toor' account and make sure you have a valid,
known password for it.  Don't change toor's shell, and use it as a backup
in case you have problems w/ root.

Hope this helps.  I've seen at least 3 people in the last couple weeks
have problems because they failed to take into account one or more of
these issues.

SB

On Fri, 23 Jul 1999, Summoner wrote:

> John Armstrong wrote:
> > Just make sure
> > root always has a base sh shell for emergencies and your set.
> 
> Excuse my newbieness, but why should I have sh for root?  So that if
> when screw over my installation again I still have a shell for single
> user mode and (hopefully) fix things?  Or does base shell mean
> something else?
> 
> My US$.019: I grew up on Bourne-style shells, I'm used to interactive
> command-line editting.  So it was key for my learning FreeBSD to use
> bash.  I don't need colour, never did.
> 
> 
> 
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