Re: Create a file with history in sh

[matthew sporleder <msporleder%gmail.com@localhost>]

On Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 8:51 AM, Greg Troxel <gdt%ir.bbn.com@localhost> wrote:
>
> "Rocky Hotas" <rockyhotas%post.com@localhost> writes:
>
>> I am quite new with this mailing-list.
>
> I've redirected followups to netbsd-users.  tech-userlevel is for
> arguing about complicated bugs or proposed changes ;-)
>
>> During the installation of NetBSD, I choose /bin/sh as the default root and 
>> user shell.
>> In the users' home directories there are not files like .sh_history or
>> similar and no "history-like" files are updated when I log in or log
>> out. But I would like to keep trace of all the commands typed in the
>> terminal, the last 100 or 1000, and not only the ones typed in the
>> current login session, accessible with the up arrow.
>> Reading the sh manual I didn't find the possibility to create a permanent 
>> file with history like in bash or ksh.
>> Is it true or there exist some possibility to do this? Or where I can look 
>> for this option?
>
> There's no reason you have to use /bin/sh for users.  You can install
> bash from pkgsrc, and set the user's shell to /usr/pkg/bin/bash.  Many
> people do this (or some other shell in pkgsrc).  I suggest keeping root
> as /bin/sh for avoiding problems, but best practice is to use the actual
> root account sparingly anyway.  (sudo -E will give you a uid 0 version
> of your own shell, sourcing dotfiles.)
>
> /bin/sh in NetBSD is intentionally minimalist:
>
>    text    data     bss     dec     hex filename
>  116229    1268    5832  123329   1e1c1 /bin/sh
>
>    text    data     bss     dec     hex filename
>  817301   18820   12272  848393   cf209 /usr/pkg/bin/bash
>
> (Of course, one has to look at libraries, too, but in general our sh has
> a lot less UI complexity.)


ksh will have all of the features you want and is installed in base.