with the current bash used in ubuntu 11.04 there no longer is a ~/.bash_history created If there is an existing ~/.bash_history in place or one is inadvertently created, *see below, then it will not be written to
If one was to crash the system while a command was running in a terminal then a ~/.bash_history would be created if not already and the running command would be saved to it. That is the only way commands are saved to the history or the file created in the absence of pre-existing one Machine: i686 OS: linux-gnu Compiler: gcc Compilation CFLAGS: -DPROGRAM='bash' -DCONF_HOSTTYPE='i686' -DCONF_OSTYPE='lin$ uname output: Linux doug-XPS-M1330 2.6.38-5-generic #32-Ubuntu SMP Tue Feb 22 1$ Machine Type: i686-pc-linux-gnu Bash Version: 4.2 Patch Level: 6 Release Status: release This is not limited to just 11.04 current unattended launchpad bug https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/bash/+bug/725327
