Re: bash: clean history on logout?

[Robert Elz <kre%munnari.OZ.AU@localhost>]

    Date:        Thu, 1 Sep 2011 18:31:23 +0200
    From:        feralert <feralert%gmail.com@localhost>
    Message-ID:  
<CAP4bfpxgRZ206n_h95gCRjUBk-uSGk6Wiqp+q+6Shbqk18ojfw%mail.gmail.com@localhost>

  | HISTFILESIZE=500

Yes, saw that in your earlier reply to Ian Leroux, I just hadn't seen
it when I replied...   But this still sounds, from the way you described
it, as if it might be th cause - just perhaps not in the obvious way.

Check for references to HISTFILESIZE in any profile/bashrc type
files that might be in use, I'd try

        grep HISTFILESIZE /root/.[a-zA-Z]*

and see if it finds anything - I'm wondering if perhaps there's something
like

        trap 'HISTFILESIZE=0' 0

(or some other trap that runs a script that does the equivalent)

You can also determine if the shell is deliberately truncating the file
at logout, by kill -9'ing it to exit (kill -9 $$) - that way, the shell
dies hard, and gets no opportunity to do any kind of cleanup.   If the
file is truncated on a normal exit, and not when the shell is killed that
way, then you can be confident there is some shell setting/config that's
causing it.

kre