Shell Introduction


What is a Shell?

Recall when we were talking about the UNIX operating system we said that UNIX shells provide a "command line" interface which allows the user to type in commands which are translated by the shell into something the kernel can comprehend and then is sent off to the kernel for it to act upon.

Just like the applications, desktop manager, window manager, etc... what shell use is left up to the user's discretion.


UMBC Default Shell

On the UMBC GL network, the default UNIX shell is tcsh - Turbo C SHell. However this can be changed as the user sees fit. Your shell can be changed via http://accounts.umbc.edu/. Shells available on GL include ...


Linux Default Shell

Most Linux systems (especially home installations) default to the bash shell, thus we will cover this as well.


Changing Your Shell - On a Home Based System

Usually there is a command called chsh that stands for change shell. You have to enter your password and then the absolute path to the new shell that you wish to use.

(06:08 PM): chsh
Changing shell for dan.
Password: 
New shell [/bin/bash]: /bin/csh
Shell changed.
(06:08 PM):

Daniel J. Hood
Last modified: Thu Jan 9 12:48:45 EST 2003