chsh and usermod commands

siva balan · #1 18th March 2011, 10:44 AM

i am using fedora 13
i attempted to change my default shell..
so i type,

Code:

chsh -s /bin/tcsh

in command prompt.
it required my login passwordi gave ..then it got over......
when i check with the command

Code:

ps

still bash is running..
but when i type

Code:

grep <my-username> /etc/passwd

shell column shows that /bin/tcsh
what does it mean?
then,
i gave

Code:

usermod -s /bin/tcsh <mys-username>

from the root prompt
now

Code:

ps

shows tcsh
so, all i want to know is
what is the difference between the chsh and usermod -s?
thanks in advance....

smr54 · #2 18th March 2011, 01:30 PM

You have to log out and log back in before it takes effect, I believe. (Untested at this moment).

If you logged out, logged in as root, and ran usermod, then logged back in, it would make sense.

Note I haven't tested any of this .

vallimar · #3 18th March 2011, 02:48 PM

chsh just changes the shell entry in /etc/passwd.
As far as I know, usermod does the same thing.
As smr54 says, you have to re-login before it actually takes effect.

suheng · #4 18th March 2011, 02:56 PM

After testing under F10, when 'chsh' executed completed. shell in /etc/passwd changed immediately but not ps. When log out then log in. ps also changed to other shell.