LKP System Management

Shells

There is a default shell defined for each user in the UnixWare 7 environment. When you change to Linux mode, your shell changes to the Linux shell type most equivalent to your UNIX default shell.

The bash RPM attempts to provide appropriate links for login shells listed in /etc/passwd that do not reside under /linux. It detects if a Linux ksh binary (as provided by the pdksh RPM) is installed. If one is present, then it will link all the ksh variants (/linux/u95/bin/ksh, /linux/OpenServer/bin/ksh, and so on) to the Linux ksh. If a Linux ksh is not present, then the script will create Linux side links to bash as the closest match available.

If your UNIX default is sh, you change to a Linux bash shell, csh changes to tcsh, ksh changes to zsh, and so on. If a Linux shell, like zsh, is not available, bash becomes your Linux default shell. Note that the shells that run in Linux mode are similar to, but are not exact equivalents of their UNIX counterparts. Features and options may differ.

Note that when you launch a Linux shell using the /usr/bin/linux command, you always get a bash shell.

Bash

Bash (Bourne Again shell) is a GNU project sh-compatible shell and is the most commonly used Linux shell. Bash provides a command history, command-line editing, job control, shell functions and aliases, indexed arrays and integer arithmetic in any base from 2 to 64.

NOTE: Shell programs written for use with the Korn, C, or other shells will not run properly in the bash environment. See the FAQ at http://www.delorie.com/gnu/docs /bash/ for detailed information about the differences between shells.

Hardcopy documentation about Bash is available from a variety of commercial vendors, or you can read or download documentation from http://www.delorie.com/gnu/docs /bash/