Bash: Where to get it

Bash can be gotten in two main places. The latest copy (including beta versions) can be gotten from slc2.ins.cwru.edu

The latest stable version can be retrieved from the main source of gnu software at prep.ai.mit.edu via ftp. There are also mirrors all over the world.

Bash: How to make it your default shell

• If you have root access you can change /etc/passwd to /bin/bash or wherever bash is installed
• If not you can sometimes use either `chsh‘ or `ypchsh‘ to change your shell.
• If you can‘t do either of the above then assuming that your default shell is `/bin/csh‘ then you can do the following to make bash your interactive shell. (The c-shell be used as the default non-interactive shell.)
  • place the bash executable in ~/bin/bash
  • ln -s $HOME/bin/bash ~/-bash
  • use the following as your .cshrc file: Note: You should modify the set path statement and the setenv SHELL statement to reflect where things are on your machine. # override default login C shell to use bash
    
    
    
    if (!($?PATH_SET)) then
      setenv PATH_SET 1
    
      # modify path and MANPATH for your system.  It is your path for
      # non-interactive shells and things like rcp.
    
      set path = (/bin /usr/bin /usr/ucb /usr/lbin /usr/bin/X11 $HOME/bin ./)
      setenv MANPATH /usr/local/man:/usr/man
    endif
    if ($?prompt) then
      if (! $?SH_EXECD) then
        setenv SHELL ~/bin/bash           # Set shell to wherever bash is located.
        setenv SH_EXECD yes
        switch ($?TERM)
          case 1:
            cd
            if ( ! -x -bash ) then
              echo "Can‘t execute bash"
              exit
            endif
            exec -bash
            breaksw
          default:
            if ( ! -x $SHELL ) then
              echo "Can‘t execute bash"
              exit
            endif
            exec $SHELL
            breaksw
        endsw
        echo **** Warning: exec bash failed ****
      endif
    endif
        
  • If for some this script doesn‘t let you login you can always use ftp to get into your account and delete .cshrc to start over again.

Bash: Make sure its in /etc/shells

The complete path to bash must be in /etc/shells (on most unix systems) or you won‘t be able to ftp into your account.

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