Setting PS1 for ordinary users
 

To clarify the situation. The ONLY difference in the shell setup for
both root and an ordinary user is the name. As shown below they bith
use the same shell, they both have exactly the same contents in
.bashrc and .bash_profile. The file .profile exists for neither. And
yet somehow they end up with totally different PS1 values.

How this happens I wish to discover. Where is root getting its PS1
value set and why is root's prompt surrounded by []? The ordinary
user's PS1 value is that of the bash default which indicates to me
that it is not being set anywhere.

There is a good deal of code given over to setting the PS1 value in
/etc/bashrc but it seems to depend upon PS1 being already set. I can
find no reference to PS1 in any file in/root and the oly reference in
/etc/profile.d is in colorls.sh which seems to be testing PS1 for a
zero length string (i.e unset value).

Where is PS1 actually being set?

sh-4.1$ which sh
/bin/sh
sh-4.1$ su -l
Password:
[root@vhost04 ~]# which sh
/bin/sh
[root@vhost04 ~]# diff .bashrc /home/byrnejb/.bashrc
[root@vhost04 ~]# diff .bash_profile /home/byrnejb/.bash_profile
[root@vhost04 ~]# ll .profile
ls: cannot access .profile: No such file or directory
[root@vhost04 ~]# ll /home/byrnejb/.profile
ls: cannot access /home/byrnejb/.profile: No such file or directory
[root@vhost04 ~]#
[root@vhost04 ~]# echo $PS1
[u@h W]$
[root@vhost04 ~]# exit
logout
sh-4.1$ echo $PS1
s-v$
sh-4.1$

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Setting PS1 for ordinary users
 

On 10/10/2012 3:48 PM, James B. Byrne wrote:
> To clarify the situation. The ONLY difference in the shell setup for
> both root and an ordinary user is the name. As shown below they bith
> use the same shell, they both have exactly the same contents in
> .bashrc and .bash_profile. The file .profile exists for neither. And
> yet somehow they end up with totally different PS1 values.
>
> How this happens I wish to discover. Where is root getting its PS1
> value set and why is root's prompt surrounded by []? The ordinary
> user's PS1 value is that of the bash default which indicates to me
> that it is not being set anywhere.
>
> There is a good deal of code given over to setting the PS1 value in
> /etc/bashrc but it seems to depend upon PS1 being already set. I can
> find no reference to PS1 in any file in/root and the oly reference in
> /etc/profile.d is in colorls.sh which seems to be testing PS1 for a
> zero length string (i.e unset value).
>
> Where is PS1 actually being set?
>
> sh-4.1$ which sh
> /bin/sh
> sh-4.1$ su -l
> Password:
> [root@vhost04 ~]# which sh
> /bin/sh
> [root@vhost04 ~]# diff .bashrc /home/byrnejb/.bashrc
> [root@vhost04 ~]# diff .bash_profile /home/byrnejb/.bash_profile
> [root@vhost04 ~]# ll .profile
> ls: cannot access .profile: No such file or directory
> [root@vhost04 ~]# ll /home/byrnejb/.profile
> ls: cannot access /home/byrnejb/.profile: No such file or directory
> [root@vhost04 ~]#
> [root@vhost04 ~]# echo $PS1
> [u@h W]$
> [root@vhost04 ~]# exit
> logout
> sh-4.1$ echo $PS1
> s-v$
> sh-4.1$

It doesn't matter where sh is pointing. What matters is the shell
configuration.

I'm using bash here:
$ which sh
/bin/sh
$ echo $SHELL
/bin/bash

So try 'echo $SHELL' instead of 'which sh' to see which shell you are using.

You can also look at the passwd file to see which shell is set.

--
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Setting PS1 for ordinary users
 

On: Wed Oct 10 15:58:43 EDT 2012 Bowie Bailey Bowie_Bailey at BUC.com
wrote:
> It doesn't matter where sh is pointing. What matters is the
> shell configuration.
>
> I'm using bash here:
> $ which sh
> /bin/sh
> $ echo $SHELL
> /bin/bash
>
> So try 'echo $SHELL' instead of 'which sh' to see which shell
> you are using.

That seems to be the issue here.

[root@vhost04 ~]# echo $SHELL
/bin/bash

sh-4.1$ echo $shell

Examining the passwd file as suggested shows that root has :/bin/bash
and ordinary users have /bin/sh. And yet, the difference in behaviour
seems strange:

sh-4.1$ /bin/sh --version
GNU bash, version 4.1.2(1)-release (x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu)
Copyright (C) 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later
<http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>

This is free software; you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

[root@vhost04 ~]# /bin/bash --version
GNU bash, version 4.1.2(1)-release (x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu)
Copyright (C) 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later
<http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>

This is free software; you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

As far as I can see the two invocations call the same program. And
yet, replacing /bin/sh with /bin/bash in the ordinary user's passwd
entry does indeed change the prompt to one identical to that used by
root. Does anyone here know why this happens?

--
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James B. Byrne mailto:ByrneJB@Harte-Lyne.ca
Harte & Lyne Limited http://www.harte-lyne.ca
9 Brockley Drive vox: +1 905 561 1241
Hamilton, Ontario fax: +1 905 561 0757
Canada L8E 3C3

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Setting PS1 for ordinary users
 

On Wed, Oct 10, 2012 at 04:12:24PM -0400, James B. Byrne wrote:
> As far as I can see the two invocations call the same program. And
> yet, replacing /bin/sh with /bin/bash in the ordinary user's passwd
> entry does indeed change the prompt to one identical to that used by
> root. Does anyone here know why this happens?

Many programs may change behaviour, depending on the name they are
called by.

"man bash"

--norc Do not read and execute the personal initialization file
~/.bashrc if the shell is interactive. This option is on by
default if the shell is invoked as sh.


--

rgds
Stephen
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Setting PS1 for ordinary users
 

On 10/10/2012 4:12 PM, James B. Byrne wrote:
> On: Wed Oct 10 15:58:43 EDT 2012 Bowie Bailey Bowie_Bailey at BUC.com
> wrote:
>> It doesn't matter where sh is pointing. What matters is the
>> shell configuration.
>>
>> I'm using bash here:
>> $ which sh
>> /bin/sh
>> $ echo $SHELL
>> /bin/bash
>>
>> So try 'echo $SHELL' instead of 'which sh' to see which shell
>> you are using.
> That seems to be the issue here.
>
> [root@vhost04 ~]# echo $SHELL
> /bin/bash
>
> sh-4.1$ echo $shell
>
> Examining the passwd file as suggested shows that root has :/bin/bash
> and ordinary users have /bin/sh. And yet, the difference in behaviour
> seems strange:
>
> sh-4.1$ /bin/sh --version
> GNU bash, version 4.1.2(1)-release (x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu)
> Copyright (C) 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
> License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later
> <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
>
> This is free software; you are free to change and redistribute it.
> There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
>
> [root@vhost04 ~]# /bin/bash --version
> GNU bash, version 4.1.2(1)-release (x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu)
> Copyright (C) 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
> License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later
> <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
>
> This is free software; you are free to change and redistribute it.
> There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
>
> As far as I can see the two invocations call the same program. And
> yet, replacing /bin/sh with /bin/bash in the ordinary user's passwd
> entry does indeed change the prompt to one identical to that used by
> root. Does anyone here know why this happens?

When you call bash as 'sh', it changes its behavior to mimic the
original 'sh' shell. If you look closer, you'll notice that /bin/sh is
actually just a link to '/bin/bash'.

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Setting PS1 for ordinary users
 

James B. Byrne wrote:
> On: Wed Oct 10 15:58:43 EDT 2012 Bowie Bailey Bowie_Bailey at BUC.com
> wrote:
>> It doesn't matter where sh is pointing. What matters is the
>> shell configuration.
>>
>> I'm using bash here:
<snip>
>> So try 'echo $SHELL' instead of 'which sh' to see which shell
>> you are using.
>
> That seems to be the issue here.
>
> [root@vhost04 ~]# echo $SHELL
> /bin/bash
>
> sh-4.1$ echo $shell
>
> Examining the passwd file as suggested shows that root has :/bin/bash
> and ordinary users have /bin/sh. And yet, the difference in behaviour
> seems strange:
<snip>
> As far as I can see the two invocations call the same program. And
> yet, replacing /bin/sh with /bin/bash in the ordinary user's passwd
> entry does indeed change the prompt to one identical to that used by
> root. Does anyone here know why this happens?

This is *very* odd, that users are created using sh, which is supposed to
resemble the original Bourne shell. It has far fewer capabilities than any
of the later shells, and I have no idea why you'd want users screwing with
that. It's very much *not* used much any more....

I'd change all users in /etc/password to bash, unless they've explicitly
requested something else - (t)csh, or zed, whatever.

mark
mark

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Setting PS1 for ordinary users
 

On Wed, Oct 10, 2012 at 03:48:23PM -0400, James B. Byrne wrote:
> To clarify the situation. The ONLY difference in the shell setup for
> both root and an ordinary user is the name. As shown below they bith
> use the same shell, they both have exactly the same contents in
> .bashrc and .bash_profile. The file .profile exists for neither. And
> yet somehow they end up with totally different PS1 values.
>
> How this happens I wish to discover. Where is root getting its PS1
> value set and why is root's prompt surrounded by []? The ordinary
> user's PS1 value is that of the bash default which indicates to me
> that it is not being set anywhere.
>
> There is a good deal of code given over to setting the PS1 value in
> /etc/bashrc but it seems to depend upon PS1 being already set. I can
> find no reference to PS1 in any file in/root and the oly reference in
> /etc/profile.d is in colorls.sh which seems to be testing PS1 for a
> zero length string (i.e unset value).
>
> Where is PS1 actually being set?

James,

Have a look in /etc/bashrc (and scripts called from there, such
as in /etc/profile.d).

HTH,

Dave
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Setting PS1 for ordinary users
 

On 11/10/12 05:42, James B. Byrne wrote:
> CentOS-6
>
> When I login as root I see this prompt:
>
>
> [root@vhost04 ~]#
>
> When I login as a non-priviledged user I see this instead:
>
> sh-4.1$
>
> .bashrc and .bash_profile have identical contents in /root and
> /home/user. What causes the difference? Why? How does one change
> the default so that all normal users get a [userid@hostname pwd]$
> prompt?
>
> I have loked in/etc/profile.d and /etc/bashrc and I cannot see what
> condition is triggering the different behaviour.


The following line in /etc/bashrc

[ "$PS1" = "s-v$ " ] && PS1="[u@h W]$ "

is changing the prompt for the root user from the default 's-v$ ',
because the root user has '/bin/bash' as there shell.

The ordinary users are just getting the default PS1 because they have
there shell set to '/bin/sh', and hence, /etc/bashrc is not called.

I suggest you change all normal (non-system) users to have '/bin/bash'
as there default shell, and they will get the correct prompt, and a
better shell.

K

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means, do not use a hammer." -- IBM maintenance manual, 1925

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Setting PS1 for ordinary users
 

On 10.10.2012 19:52, m.roth@5-cent.us wrote:
>>
>> I have loked in/etc/profile.d and /etc/bashrc and I cannot see what
>> condition is triggering the different behaviour.
>
> I'd guess whether there's a ~/.bashrc. I've got mine set the way I
> want
> it; I don't remember a ~/.bashrc being automagically created for new
> users.

New users' homedirs are populated from /etc/skell if you use useradd,
which do contain a .bashrc (and more).

--
Sent from the Delta quadrant using Borg technology!

Nux!
www.nux.ro
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Setting PS1 for ordinary users
 

On 10/10/2012 04:43 PM, Nux! wrote:

On 10.10.2012 19:52, m.roth@5-cent.us wrote:


I have loked in/etc/profile.d and /etc/bashrc and I cannot see what
condition is triggering the different behaviour.


I'd guess whether there's a ~/.bashrc. I've got mine set the way I
want
it; I don't remember a ~/.bashrc being automagically created for new
users.


New users' homedirs are populated from /etc/skell if you use useradd,
which do contain a .bashrc (and more).



Another way (there is ALWAYS another way!) to do this for new accounts
is to modify the /etc/default/useradd file and set the SHELL= line to
use the shell you want. The unaltered file on my C6.3 box contains
"SHELL=/bin/bash".


Of course, that doesn't help on existing accounts.

YMMV
--
Jay Leafey - jay.leafey@mindless.com
Memphis, TN

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