Setting bash as default shell
Q. I am using FreeBSD and I would like to setup bash as default shell?
A. CSH is default shell under FreeBSD. First, make sure bash is installed. Type bash to see if you can execute bash:
$ bash
If you get command not found error. Use pkg_add command to install bash
# pkg_add -r -v bash
Now to setup bash as shell type chsh command.
chsh -s /path/to/shell {user-name}
chsh changes the user login shell. This determines the name of the user's initial login command. A normal user may only change the login shell for her own account, the super user may change the login shell for any account. To setup bash default shell for user vivek, type command:
$ which bash
Output:
/usr/local/bin/bash
Now change shell:
$ chsh -s /usr/local/bin/bash vivek
Output:
Password
Provide your login password. Verify that shell is changed:
$ grep ^vivek /etc/passwd
You can also edit /etc/passwd file and change shell (you need to login as root user):
# vi /etc/passwd
Last filed is shell
From
vivek:x:1000:1000:vivek,,,:/home/vivek:/bin/sh
To
vivek:x:1000:1000:vivek,,,:/home/vivek:/usr/local/bin/bash
Save and close the file.
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Related Other Helpful FAQs:
- How to use bash shell
- FreeBSD Install BASH Shell
- Understanding command line shell
- Configure BASH, KSH, TCSH, ZSH Shell To Logout User Automatically After Idle Time
- Howto run a shell script without changing file access permission
Discussion on This FAQ
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September 22nd, 2007 at 5:37 pm
Don’t forget to create a .bash_profile page or do what I do (from your home dir):
ln -s .bashrc .bash_profile
October 1st, 2007 at 5:55 am
i downloaded this bashish.tar file and ran configure,make,make install,but in the end it wanted me to instal an interactive utility for chnaging the themes..i was annoyed as i was working in the console..so i deleted it..but i had already applied the exec bash comand and now my prompt is -bash-3.00#… i dont knw how to change it back to naila@root# plz help me
August 31st, 2008 at 4:00 am
Hello Vivek,
Really a great Job done by you and your coworkers, All tips and tricks are helpfull. and also good understanding for new users. Thank you again for this knid of open source work
Regrads
Riyad, Dhaka, Bangladesh
September 9th, 2008 (4 weeks ago) at 1:49 am
If I missed something here then please forgive me. The question was how do you setup bash to be the default shell. Did I miss that part, or does the response only tell how to change existing accounts to bash?
To change the default shell one must edit /etc/adduser.conf. Now, if as in my case, this file isn’t present, then you need to run `adduser -C’ to create the file with the defaults you want.
Cheers,
GregMo