Must "root" default to /bin/bash ? [SOLVED]

gentsquash · Last edited by gentsquash on Mon Jan 03, 2005 10:16 pm; edited 1 time in total

My wise Linux friend (the one who kindly installed Gentoo for me)
tells me that normal users can run `tcsh' or other shells, but
that user "root" had BDW ("better darn well") run /bin/bash.
When asked why, I got the hacker equivalent of "because otherwise
planets will wobble in their orbits --you can DO it, but I don't
want to be on the same continent when you do...".

Does "root" really need to have /bin/bash in his line in
"/etc/passwd"? --and if so, why?

(And, if you are in the mood for another `bash' query,

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?p=1911399#1911399

still has me stuck.)
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papal_authority · Veteran Joined: 31 Mar 2004 Posts: 1823 Location: Canada

No. I always use tcsh and/or csh depending on the *nix variant. In fact SunOS used to default to csh for root.
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Darkael · Veteran Joined: 10 Aug 2004 Posts: 1321 Location: France

I've used zsh as root for months and I've never seen anything wrong.
But don't delete bash, some nasty programs need it sometimes.

EdSchouten · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 07 Oct 2003 Posts: 79

fishhead · Posted: Wed Dec 29, 2004 10:33 am Post subject:

If you use the command useradd with some additional arguments, it will let you make multiple users with the same uid. You can use this to make "root", "root-csh","root-zsh", etc. Note that you will probably have to change their passwords seperately.

tutaepaki · Posted: Wed Dec 29, 2004 7:39 pm Post subject:

This is probably just from the "old days", when bash wasn't on your / filesystem, (I vaguely recall it being in /usr/bin on an old RH system) and root should never depend on something outside of your / filesystem. (ie /bin or /sbin only)

PapaSMURFFS · Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2004 12:50 am Post subject:

The shell root uses doesn't matter in the least -- as long as /bin/sh exists (provided by bash) to run shell scripts.

However, if it was an important server or something I'd compile whichever shell root is using as a static binary so if your filesystem becomes corrupt there is a better chance of having a working shell to repair things from.

gentsquash · Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2005 10:18 pm Post subject:

Thank you for all the replies. I'll mark this as [SOLVED], and
will nonetheless ask:

What is a "static binary"? (Just "not dynamic!" doesn't cut it...)

Re: fishhead, why would it be beneficial to have different users
with the same user id? Aren't file-ownerships by uid, not by the
symbolic name? (ie "root" or "tux" or ...)
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Your thread resolved? Putting [SOLVED] in its title helps all Gentooers. (Button "edit" , first post)
Prof. Jonathan LF King, Mathematics dept., University of Florida