Solved FreeBSD upgrade from 12.X to 13.2-RELEASE a question or two.

Well, my upgrade to 13.2 went forward with no known issues so far. But, I have a question:

Code:

root:*:0:0:Charlie &:/root:/usr/local/bin/bash
=======
root:*:0:0:Charlie &:/root:/bin/csh

I prefer bash and who is Charlie?

Anyway, I took care of it easily with VI, but I am still curious: Who is Charlie and how would one use this user, IFF one wanted to use this user for some reason, and what might be a reason for using it? Does one really need this user? Isn't it a security risk?

Curious minds want to know.

Thanks,

Ken Gordon
 
Last edited:
The name is actually "Charlie Root". The & in the GECOS field gets translated to the username. So you could have an account name 'doe' with a GECOS field showing "John &", which would translate to a "real" name of "John Doe".
 
It is best practice not to change root's shell, because that can bite you at a time when you need no additional trouble.

If you need a more comfortable shell for root just have a .tcshrc in \root. This activates tcsh.
Uhm, only if root uses csh (the default until recently was sh), and not everyone wants to use the abomination of a shell the C shell is.

But that's where toor comes in, the alias name for root. Yes, it's wise to have a shell for at least one of them that's actually part of base, for disaster recovery. The other one can use any shell without risk. It doesn't matter which one you use for what. Most people seem to prefer using toor for a "custom" shell, I prefer it the other way around.
 
Well, my upgrade to 13.2 went forward with no known issues so far. But, I have a question:

Code:

root:*:0:0:Charlie &:/root:/usr/local/bin/bash
=======
root:*:0:0:Charlie &:/root:/bin/csh

I prefer bash and who is Charlie?

Anyway, I took care of it easily with VI, but I am still curious: Who is Charlie and how would one use this user, IFF one wanted to use this user for some reason, and what might be a reason for using it? Does one really need this user? Isn't it a security risk?

Curious minds want to know.

Thanks,

Ken Gordon
🤣I asked that very same question(s)
🤣
 
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