No default shell

jovie · 07-13-2006, 06:58 AM

Hi can anyone explain this?

Basically my users aren't getting the shell and therefore environment they want at login. I'm not sure what shell they get but it certainly isn't /bin/bash using their own .bashrc, even though /bin/bash is what they have set as default. (So maybe it's just not reading the .bashrcs?)

Code:

Last login: Thu Jul 13 12:01:44 2006 from ###.###.###.###
-bash-3.00$ echo $shell
 
-bash-3.00$ echo $PATH
/usr/kerberos/bin:/usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin
-bash-3.00$ grep 'username' /etc/passwd
username:x:504:504::/users/username:/bin/bash
-bash-3.00$ ls -l /bin/bash
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root 686520 May 10  2005 /bin/bash
-bash-3.00$ which bash
/bin/bash
-bash-3.00$ bash
[username@ ~]# echo $shell
 
[username@ ~]#echo $PATH
/usr/kerberos/bin:/usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin
[username@ ~]# echo $shell
 
[username@ ~]#echo $PATH
/usr/kerberos/bin:/usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/local/bin/phred:.:/users/username/bin/Decoder:/usr/software/exec/phrap:/usr/software/exec/:/data/ncbi/::/usr/software/bin/
[username@ ~]#exit
exit
/bin/:/usr/software/GOtcha/bin/:/usr/software/bin/
[username@ ~]#exit
exit

Anyone know how I get users loging in to a bash shell with their own .bashrc settings?

(I have tried chsh but the default shell is already set to the shell I want to use)

Thanks
Ann

druuna · 07-13-2006, 07:13 AM

Hi,

Should echo $shell not be echo $SHELL?

The $shell/$SHELL variable is not global. I.e. echo $SHELL works for bash shells, $shell works for tcsh.

Hope this helps.

ethics · 07-13-2006, 07:35 AM

can you not obtain what shell they are using (and also edit) from /etc/passwd?

jovie · 07-13-2006, 08:19 AM

[QUOTE=druuna]Hi,

Should echo $shell not be echo $SHELL?

/QUOTE]

Yes of course Thanks you.

Code:

-bash-3.00$ echo $SHELL
/bin/bash

So they're logging in to a bash shell but not getting the environment defined in their own .bashrc and as running bash starts a new shell with the .bashrc settings I don't think there's an error in .bashrc .

It's a problem for all users who all have default bash. root uses tcsh and reads ~/.tcsh fine.

There's no help in /var/log/secure or /var/log/messages. Anywhere else I could be looking?

Fedora core 4 BTW.

Thanks
Ann

druuna · 07-13-2006, 08:36 AM

Hi,

The config file(s) that are read when a bash shell is started depends on several things:

- is it a login shell,
- is it a interactive shell.

The ~/.bashrc file is only parsed if the bash shell is a interactive shell that is not a login shell.

~/.bash_profile, ~/.bash_logout and ~/.profile are parsed if the bash shell is an interactive login shell, or a non-inter-active shell with the --login option.

See the bash manpage (section: INVOCATION) for details.

Hope this clears things up a bit.