[X-Unix] 10.4.5 How to change default shell

[Doug McNutt]

At 21:30 +0100 3/15/06, Kirk McElhearn wrote:
>On Mar 15, 2006, at 9:21 PM, Raoul Armfield wrote:
>>I thought that as of 10.3 the default shell was bash?
>Only for new accounts. Any accounts that you created in Jaguar or earlier kept tcsh.

There is a subtlety about that. Your UNIX login shell can be changed. That's the one that is specified in the etc/pswd file.

Mac OS neXt though doesn't honor your choice when you "login" to the Aqua GUI using the login window. If you run Terminal.app it will pick up your choice and I'm pretty sure that a login via ssh will pick it up.  BBEdit worksheets do pay attention when you create a new sheet.

If you use "Do shell script" from AppleScript you WILL get bash regardless of your choice. You also get sh if you do something like running a UNIX tool from inside of, say, perl. If you use a service that runs a shell script from, say, an editor window you'll get sh. And of course sh and bash are copies of, not links to, the same file.

One can set environment variables in $HOME/.Mac_OSX/environment.plist which are applied at login-to-Aqua time. Why Apple doesn't assign your choice of shell there is beyond my ken.
-- 

Applescript syntax is like English spelling:
Roughly, but not thoroughly, thought through.