[ubuntu-uk] Ubuntu Server interface

[Tony Arnold]

Steve,

Stephen Garton wrote:
> Thanks for all the help so far!
> 
> the user now has a .bashrc and a .profile (copied from /etc/skel)
> 2008/12/18 Tony Arnold <tony.arnold at manchester.ac.uk>:
>> As well as the advice about bashrc etc., I would also check that the
>> user has the right shell. Login and type 'echo $SHELL' and make sure
>> that is bash or dash.
> 
> It would appear that the user is setup wrong, as this returns /bin/sh.
> I do also have root access, and logging in as root (which has a
> 'normal' activity) returns /bin/bash. How does one change this?

That would explain the lack of history recall etc.

As root use the chsh command. Check the man page before proceeding, but
'chsh username' will then prompt you to choose a suitable shell.

>> You also want to see what the terminal type is set to. Type 'echo
>> $TERM'. If that is set to something like 'dumb' then you may not get
>> some of the nice features you are looking for.
> 
> both user and root return xterm

That's fine.

>> BTW, what do you get echoed when you press the arrow keys? Nothing or
>> some random text?
> 
> Up arrow gives ^[[A, down ^[[B

Changing the shell should fix this.

Regards,
Tony.
-- 
Tony Arnold,                        Tel: +44 (0) 161 275 6093
Head of IT Security,                Fax: +44 (0) 870 136 1004
University of Manchester,           Mob: +44 (0) 773 330 0039
Manchester M13 9PL.                 Email: tony.arnold at manchester.ac.uk