On 9/22/21 10:36 AM, Baptiste Daroussin wrote:
Hello,
TL;DR: this is not a proposal to deorbit csh from base!!!
For years now, csh is the default root shell for FreeBSD, csh can be confusing
as a default shell for many as all other unix like settled on a bourne shell
compatible interactive shell: zsh, bash, or variant of ksh.
Recently our sh(1) has receive update to make it more user friendly in
interactive mode:
* command completion (thanks pstef@)
* improvement in the emacs mode, to make it behave by default like other shells
* improvement in the vi mode (in particular the vi edit to respect $EDITOR)
* support for history as described by POSIX.
This makes it a usable shell by default, which is why I would like to propose to
make it the default shell for root starting FreeBSD 14.0-RELEASE (not MFCed)
If no strong arguments has been raised until October 15th, I will make this
proposal happen.
Again just in case: THIS IS NOT A PROPOSAL TO REMOVE CSH FROM BASE!
Best regards,
Baptiste
Hello,
I applaud the proposal to change the default login shell of root to
/bin/sh. As you mention the rest of the Unix(-like) world has used a
Bourne-like root login shell forever. It is one of the first things I
change on a new FreeBSD install anyway.
While there, you could change "Charlie &" in the gecos field to
something more sensible, e.g. just "Superuser". I know Charlie is there
since 4.2BSD, but the reference to a long forgotten baseball player is
probably lost by now. Also, a lot of explanation is often needed when
users receive (automated) emails from Charlie Root.
Once the login shell of root has changed to /bin/sh, I do not see any
reason to keep toor around. It is there since 4.3BSD, but I don't know
anybody who uses it in the long term. Many will just change the login
shell of root to a Bourne-like shell right away.
I have experimented a bit with the new usability features of sh in 14.0
and I must say that it was quite a positive experience. I could easily
suppress the urge to install and use bash instead of sh. I wonder if the
changes (but not the ones to /etc/passwd) could be MFC'd in a few
months, once they have matured a bit, so they would land in 13.1. As you
mention elsewhere in this thread, usage in scripts is not affected by
these changes. And for interactive use it could be a POLA violation, but
the astonishment would be a positive one.
--
Kind regards,
Hans Ottevanger
Eindhoven, Netherlands.
h...@beastielabs.net
www.beastielabs.net
