login shell

loran · 03-14-2003, 05:52 PM

When I try to login as a user (as opposed to root)i get a message saying...
"Your login shell is not listed in etc/shell" Any advice as to how I can fix this?

onurb · 03-14-2003, 06:11 PM

What distro ? At a text console or in X ?
Did you do "adduser" in the first place ?

loran · 03-14-2003, 06:45 PM

Slackware 8.1
X
yes I did

onurb · 03-14-2003, 06:49 PM

I do not get it; as you are in X you're already logged in as user, or not ?

nxny · 03-14-2003, 07:38 PM

Login as root ( since you said you can ) and check your /etc/passwd to see if the final entry of ( colon delimited ) line that starts with the username in question is a valid shell. /bin/bash is most common.

Or better, post the line and someone will have a better answer for you.

onurb · 03-14-2003, 07:39 PM

Sorry, i got interrupted and did send the first part already.
1) I suppose you start X as root and then want to login as normal user ?
Why not do it the other way, login as user, startx and then, if needed, su ?
If that does not work:
2) As root, add a second (temporary) user see if that works and transfer the files of your fist home dir to the new user dir. Delete the fist user and add him as new, then transfer the files back again. After that you can delete the temp-user.

cuckoopint · 03-14-2003, 07:55 PM

Quote:

Login as root ( since you said you can ) and check your /etc/passwd to see if the final entry of ( colon delimited ) line that starts with the username in question is a valid shell. /bin/bash is most common.

Actually, I think its a lot more common to have a symbolic link /bin/sh -> bash (or whatever)
but you're right: check /etc/passwd for a valid shell at login. If you have a problem posting your file (which you should), see 'man 5 passwd'

nxny · 03-14-2003, 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by cuckoopint
Actually, I think its a lot more common to have a symbolic link /bin/sh -> bash (or whatever)

/bin/sh for login shell..

If we're talking UNIX(TM) , yeah. With reasonably modern linux distros, the default shell has always been a direct /bin/bash ( the Bourne Again SHell - which is a clone of the Bourne shell aka /bin/sh )

The symlink /bin/sh usually exists to take care of legacy issues, but it is never referenced in /etc/passwd.

loran · 03-15-2003, 04:51 PM

nevermind, I created a new user and the problem seems fixed. I'll just diasable the user thats giving me trouble. Thanks.