FreeBSD 7.0-RELEASE-i386 will changing root shell break anything?

[Frank Shute]

On Sun, Jan 04, 2009 at 02:09:03PM -0800, David Christensen wrote:
>
> freebsd-questions:
> 
> I'm building a fresh Amanda server using FreeBSD 7.0-RELEASE-i386:
> 
>  
> http://portsmon.freebsd.org/portoverview.py?category=misc&portname=amand
> a-server
> 
> 
> Most of my software background is GNU/Linux.  I would prefer using the
> Bash shell, but the default FreeBSD shell for root appears to be the C
> shell:
> 
>     p3450# echo $SHELL
>     /bin/csh
> 
> 
> I have changed the root shell to Bash on another machine I use as a CVS
> server and haven't noticed any issues yet, but I've been wondering if
> I'm setting myself up for problems by doing so.
> 
> 
> Does anybody know if it's okay to change the root shell on FreeBSD
> 7.0-RELEASE-i386?

I change my root shell to pdksh. It's statically linked and I copy it
from /usr/local/bin to /bin.

In single user mode you're prompted for a shell (/bin/sh is the
default) so I usually use that.

I've never had any problems (famous last words ;) Just have to
remember to copy the executable to the root filesystem if your shell
gets upgraded.

What you don't want to do is overwrite /bin/sh with /bin/bash or
anything like that. The boot up scripts depend on /bin/sh and although
bash is meant to be Bourne compatible, I wouldn't trust it myself to
bring up the system without problems.

> 
> 
> TIA,
> 
> David

Regards,

-- 

 Frank 


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