Re: Sysinst default root login shell

[Matthew Mondor <mm_lists%pulsar-zone.net@localhost>]

On Mon, 9 Apr 2012 11:32:41 +0200
Martin Husemann <martin%duskware.de@localhost> wrote:

> On Mon, Apr 09, 2012 at 11:27:13AM +0200, Johnny Billquist wrote:
> > Yech! Why don't we rename NetBSD to NetLinux instead, while we're at it?
> 
> Another option is to swap them, make root the Bourne Again Superuse with
> /bin/sh and toor the less awkward /bin/csh user ;-)
> 
> Or just do the obvious minimal change, but that makes master.passwd look
> pretty silly (with two mostly identical first lines).
> 
> And I did not say "bash" anywhere, the linux reference is uncalled for ;-)

I agree.

I respect that some users prefer csh, but noone proposed to remove it,
only to change the default selection.  For technical reasons, many
prefer sh, and I doubt that Linux has anything to do with it (please
forbid my short history research results):

The Bourne shell (1977, AT&T Version 7 Unix) was the inspiration for
ksh (Bell Labs, 1983), which in turn has inspired POSIX 1003.2 and
1003.2a requirements for shell.  Our shell seems to be a Bourne SVR4
variant shell clone (Almquist, 1989), that has evolved to include some
POSIX ksh-like features and improved interactive features.

I have no authority, but since opinion was requested, mine is that
/bin/sh as a default root shell makes sense for a modern NetBSD.

Csh will still be available, selectable at installation, and with
future expected sysinst changes, it'll even be possible for users to
make non-interactive installations with their shell selection
specified in a sysinst script/configuration file, to avoid the
interactive installation overhead alltogether (I admit that's not yet
possible, though :)

Also, users who don't use sysinst (where /bin/sh was the default
suggestion already) have several steps to make to install the system.
Changing the shell would only be one extra step, and for those who use a
script to automate this, it's also trivial to adapt a script to change
the shell to what they want...
-- 
Matt