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On a dedicated server we use the shell is setup differently between accounts, which is quite irritating. When I ssh into most users I get:

[user@machine some_dir]$

However, with some accounts I get:


I keep a lot of shells open to various machines, and there are a lot of different accounts. I have the ability to either make everyone have the same ~/.bashrc, but I also believe there is a global config somewhere in /etc

What's the fastest way to make sure I get the same shell whenever I ssh?

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2 Answers 2

up vote 1 down vote accepted

Your best bet is a mix of the two approaches. Bash will always load ~/.bashrc. You should place a standard file in /etc/skel/.bashrc and ~/.bashrc that in turn sources something like /etc/bash.bashrc. (The version in skel will get used for new user accounts.) Put your defaults in the latter file.

Example user .bashrc:

# this line activates the system-wide default settings
. /etc/bash.bashrc

# users can add any custom .bashrc settings here

Example /etc/bash.bashrc based on my prompt:

PS1='\A \['$G'\]\u@\h \['$Y'\]\w\['$N'\] \$ '

With this setup, you can later change the system-wide prompt and add other settings without having to edit everybody's .bashrc file. Hope that helps.

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This would be horrible to maintain. If you wanted to change system-wide performance later, you would have to modify each individual .bashrc in the user's home directory. You're also recreating existing native performance. Finally, .bashrc is for non-login shells. .bash_profile is for login shells. See INVOCATION in the manpage. –  Warner Jul 6 '10 at 21:05
Where can I find the settings that are being used for other accounts? –  Kristopher Ives Jul 6 '10 at 21:14
Warner: No, it wouldn't be a problem to maintain. I specifically set it up so that you can just edit /etc/bash.bashrc after you are done to change system-wide behavior. Also, I know about the login vs. non-login issue and chose bashrc specifically; if you set the prompt in .bash_profile, it will not apply to non-login xterms, because they don't have any login shell in the parent processes. Ideally, .bash_profile or /etc/profile should source ~/.bashrc so that the prompt settings apply to all interactive shells. –  Walter Mundt Jul 6 '10 at 23:48
@Krisropher: I don't understand your question. Every account works the same: Non-login interactive shells (xterms, shells in GNU screen, etc.) read ~/.bashrc. Login shells (SSH or terminal logins) will instead read /etc/profile and then the first of ~/.bash_profile, ~/.bash_login or ~/.profile that exists; oftentimes one of those will source the user's ~/.bashrc so that settings in .bashrc apply to all interactive shells as I mention in my previous comment. –  Walter Mundt Jul 6 '10 at 23:58
@Warner: One more point, in reply to your statement that I am recreating existing native functions. AFAIK, there is no system-wide file that all interactive shells read on startup. Login shells read /etc/profile but non-login interactive shells only read ~/.bashrc, so everything important has to go in the latter in my experience, or that file has to include something system-wide. –  Walter Mundt Jul 7 '10 at 0:08

/etc/profile is the standard location for the system-wide bash configuration on most systems.

From the bash manpage:

       When executing interactively, bash displays the primary prompt PS1 when
       needs more input to complete  a  command. 
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/etc/profile is the best place to put this for login shells, use /etc/bash.bashrc as well for nonlogin shells. –  theotherreceive Jul 7 '10 at 9:34

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