Re: ERRATA : interactive and login shells: bug or design decision ?

From: Greg Wooledge (wooledg_at_eeg.ccf.org)
Date: 03/24/05

  • Next message: Roumen Petrov: "Re: problem of openSSH and certificate in UTF8" 
    Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 12:16:23 -0500
To: Cristian Zoicas <zoicas@ictp.trieste.it>

    On Thu, Mar 24, 2005 at 02:44:42PM +0100, Cristian Zoicas wrote:
    > When I execute: <ssh user@somesite.com>, I get a login shell, but
    > when I execute: <ssh user@somesite.com command>, command does not run
    > under a login shell.

    Correct.

    > The question is the same: Is this behaviour a bug or a design decision ?

    It's intentional.

    > If it is a design decision, then what are the reasons to have it like this.

    Because login shells are only used when you log in. Firing off a
    background task should not welcome you to the system, show you the
    messages of the day, inform you whether you have new mail, give you a
    random fortune cookie, etc. That sort of stuff should only be done when
    you log in.

  • Next message: Roumen Petrov: "Re: problem of openSSH and certificate in UTF8"

    Relevant Pages

    • Re: unprivledged users (for a service)
      ... So it doesn't need a login shell or $HOME. ... for this sort of user that exists solely to run ... The reasoning here is that if there is, say, a buffer overflow attack ... files in the accounts home directory, ...
      (freebsd-questions)
    • Re: C-shell login script
      ... It's fine for a login shell if you like that sort of ... Have you tried ksh? ... For scripting I always explicitly use bourne or perl ...
      (comp.os.linux.setup)