zsh-beta not in /etc/shells (affects face browser and chsh)

[Nathan Collins]

Binary package hint: zsh-beta

I have the zsh-beta package installed and my shell set to /bin/zsh-beta in my /etc/passwd entry. I enabled the face browser for gdm but there was no entry for my user when I tried to log in. (By comparing my /etc/passwd entrie with those of users that did appear in the face browswer) I guessed the problem must be my choice of shell, so I tried to change it, at which point chsh complained that I wasn't allowed to change my shell! I noticed that /bin/zsh-beta wasn't in /etc/shells. I manually changed my shell in /etc/passwd to /bin/zsh and now chsh and the face browser work.

So, I think /bin/zsh-beta should be in /etc/shells if the zsh-beta package is installed (I'm not sure how my shell got set to /bin/zsh-beta in the first place, since it's not in /etc/shells, but I've upgraded my Ubuntu version at least two times without doing a fresh install, so maybe /bin/zsh-beta was in /etc/shells in an earlier version of Ubuntu?).

$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 8.04.1
Release: 8.04

$ apt-cache policy zsh-beta
zsh-beta:
  Installed: 4.3.5-dev-0+20080211-1ubuntu1
  Candidate: 4.3.5-dev-0+20080211-1ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 4.3.5-dev-0+20080211-1ubuntu1 0
        500 http://ftp.citylink.co.nz hardy/universe Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Thanks!

[Bhavani Shankar (bhavi)]

This bug has been fixed in version 4.3.5-dev-4+20080401-1 onwards I think.. Please upgrade and any problems please reopen this bug

Regards

[Nathan Collins (ntc2)]

I don't think this is fixed: when zsh (non -beta) is installed along with zsh-beta there is no way to select zsh-beta with chsh.

I purged zsh-beta (I did not have zsh installed) and there were no zsh related entries in /etc/shells. Then I installed zsh-beta, and /bin/zsh was added to /etc/shells, and /bin/zsh pointed to zsh-beta through the alternatives system. Then I installed zsh, and /usr/bin/zsh was added to /etc/shells. But now /bin/zsh and /usr/bin/zsh both pointed to zsh4 through the alternatives system. So chsh can't be used to select zsh-beta on a system with both zsh and zsh-beta installed. I did not check if the face browser still needs the user's shell to be in /etc/shells, but in any case I think the right solution is to add zsh-beta to /etc/shells.

Thanks.

[Bhavani Shankar (bhavi)]

So you are telling explicitly it should be done?

[Nathan Collins (ntc2)]

Yes. I think you want add-shell and remove-shell calls in
debian/postinst and debian/postrm, as in the zsh (non-beta) package.

On Tue, May 12, 2009 at 9:25 AM, Bhavani Shankar<email address hidden> wrote:
> So you are telling explicitly it should be done?
>
> --
> zsh-beta not in /etc/shells (affects face browser and chsh)
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/272994
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

[Axel Beckert (xtaran)]

This is fixed with zsh 5.0.2-3 as it replaces zsh-beta.