Invoking "env -i bash" unnecessarily results in confusing message

[Hugo Heden]

I was invoking bash as follows:

$ env -i bash

This caused this message to be printed:

$ env -i bash
> To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo <command>".
> See "man sudo_root" for details.

While I think I understand the rationale for the message, I found it more confusing than helpful in this situation. I thought I had done something wrong, or that there was some error with the new shell I was starting. (It was as if I had done something that suggested I was trying to become root, which I hadn't. This just feels buggy.)

The message is, I believe, caused by the following snippet in /etc/bash.bashrc (note that the "env -i" part above causes $HOME to not be set)

# sudo hint
if [ ! -e "$HOME/.sudo_as_admin_successful" ] && [ ! -e "$HOME/.hushlogin" ] ; then
    case " $(groups) " in *\ admin\ *)
    if [ -x /usr/bin/sudo ]; then
        cat <<-EOF
        To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo <command>".
        See "man sudo_root" for details.

        EOF
    fi
    esac
fi

It would perhaps be better if the if-statement also checked that $HOME is set (to refer to an existing directory?) before checking if $HOME/.sudo_as_admin_successful and $HOME/.hushlogin exist.

[Hugo Heden (hugoheden)]

Hmm, I'm starting to think this is not a "bug" but rather something that belongs to a "policy discussion" (as suggested by the Ubuntu bug reporting tutorial)?

Anyway, the version info:

Ubuntu 12.10

$ bash --version
GNU bash, version 4.2.37(1)-release (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)
Copyright (C) 2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>

This is free software; you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.