[SOLVED] I put an 'exit' in my /etc/bashrc and now can't open a terminal or modify!

unityxx311 · 08-19-2010, 10:03 AM

Hi,

This was a very bad move, but I put an exit in my /etc/bashrc file and now I can not open a new terminal or modify the file. I can't su and their are no users in the sudoers file. Please let me know if you have any ideas. TIA

T.

GrapefruiTgirl · 08-19-2010, 10:11 AM

Idea #1: Try using your `run command` dialog box (should be something like this in your menus somewhere) and starting your terminal manually, giving the command with /bin/bash and the --norc and/or --noprofile option to tell it to ignore the broken file(s).

Something like below in your run dialog:

Code:

gnome-terminal -c /bin/bash --norc --noprofile

You didn't tell us what OS you're running; I'm guessing Ubuntu or RHEL, but depending what OS it is, you'll want to specify whatever terminal program you normally use.

Idea #2: Ubuntu has Dash shell installed. You could reboot and edit your kernel boot line to include init=/bin/dash which should boot you to a minimal environment shell prompt, from where you could repair the file.

NOTE: There might be an easier idea(s) but this is what comes to mind.

unityxx311 · 08-19-2010, 10:14 AM

Thank you - I will go try this now. Sorry it's a RHEL5.0 box.

GrapefruiTgirl · 08-19-2010, 10:21 AM

OK, I don't know what RHEL has for a terminal program, but surely it has `xterm`; it might be lacking gnome-terminal though.

Oh, and believe I have made a mistake above; it should be -e to execute a command with for example xterm, not -c (-c is for bash). So your run dialog would look something like:

Code:

xterm -e /bin/bash --norc --noprofile

Note: the -e option gives me an error even though syntax is correct according to the manpage, but if I leave it out, it works fine:

Code:

xterm /bin/bash --norc --noprofile

Sorry about that mistake above - and good luck!

thorkelljarl · 08-19-2010, 10:22 AM

Or, if you can boot into it...

If you know your error, you should also be able to re-edit the file that is causing your misery using a linux live-cd, one that will give you "root"(read/write) privileges. PCLinuxOS with KDE is a suggestion, but there are others with Gnome if that is more familiar to you.

You may have to boot into "guest" and change the log-in to "root" thereafter, as is the case with PCLinuxOS.

unityxx311 · 08-19-2010, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrapefruiTgirl

OK, I don't know what RHEL has for a terminal program, but surely it has `xterm`; it might be lacking gnome-terminal though.

Oh, and believe I have made a mistake above; it should be -e to execute a command with for example xterm, not -c (-c is for bash). So your run dialog would look something like:

Code:

xterm -e /bin/bash --norc --noprofile

Note: the -e option gives me an error even though syntax is correct according to the manpage, but if I leave it out, it works fine:

Code:

xterm /bin/bash --norc --noprofile

Sorry about that mistake above - and good luck!

Thanks for the help! That allowed me to pop a new terminal..the only problem is that when I su to edit the /etc/bashrc file I exit back to the non-root prompt. This is a tricky problem.

DJ Shaji · 08-19-2010, 10:45 AM

login as root from the gdm

GrapefruiTgirl · 08-19-2010, 10:46 AM

Hmm. I wonder, what if you `su` and directly give su a command to either `mv` the offending file immediately to a backup? For example:

Code:

su -c mv /etc/bashrc /etc/bashrc.bak

Or, specify your bash shell with the options given earlier:

Code:

su -s /bin/bash --norc --noprofile

for the same effect as earlier.

unityxx311 · 08-19-2010, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrapefruiTgirl

Hmm. I wonder, what if you `su` and directly give su a command to either `mv` the offending file immediately to a backup? For example:

Code:

su -c mv /etc/bashrc /etc/bashrc.bak

Or, specify your bash shell with the options given earlier:

Code:

su -s /bin/bash --norc --noprofile

for the same effect as earlier.

You solved it - can't say thanks enough! This worked:
su -c "mv /etc/bashrc /etc/bashrc.bak"
I then went in with vi and edited out the mistake.

I thought I would have to boot from a live disk as noted in a reply above. THANK YOU!

GrapefruiTgirl · 08-19-2010, 10:56 AM

Cool, you're welcome - I'm glad it worked! I see you're posting from the RHEL box now

Cheers