Forcing actions at login

[Alex Martelli]

jc at minya.UUCP (John Chambers) writes:
	[discussion of using a script as shell for a pseudo-user]
:It turns out to be a bad idea to use /bin/sh as the login shell for
:such a script.  Why?  Well, /bin/sh insists on running /etc/profile
:for all users; there's no (documented ;-) way to suppress this.  If 
:your /etc/profile does "cat /etc/motd" (and most do), it is just a 

Just kludge up a way to disable motd-checking - simplest scheme I can
think of, offhand, is to add something like:
	egrep "^$LOGNAME:.*NOMOTD" /etc/passwd >/dev/null && exit
just before the cat /etc/motd in /etc/profile, then add the NOMOTD
keyword somewhere in the /etc/passwd line of the pseudo-user (e.g. in
the gcos field, or just use it as a part of the filename of the pseudo
shell script for the pseudo-user).

:One nice thing about csh is that it doesn't have such a mandatory
:global startup file.  It only runs $HOME/.login and/or $HOME/.cshrc;

Fancy that, I'd count this as one NASTY thing about csh!-)

:On the other hand, just a few weeks ago, I ran across a sytem with
:a very clever getty that dumps /etc/motd to the port itself.  The

One day I'll tell you about the getty which catted /etc/issue, which
contained something about "AT&T" which the somewhat-Hayes-compatible
modem took as a request to ENTER SELF-TEST-MODE... 

:Why is it that, as commercial Unix systems get more and more "user
:friendly", they get harder and harder to keep working right.  Maybe
:we should start hollering about "admin friendly" features.

On this general subject, I can agree wholeheartedly.  I particularly
detest such useless feechures as automatical sourcing of .logout on
shell termination, when trapping on a 0 signal (to . .logout, or to
whatever one wants) is so clearly right!  They pander to semieducated
users, and semieducated system administrators, and meanwhile make it
all more complex for all of us.
-- 
Alex Martelli - (home snailmail:) v. Barontini 27, 40138 Bologna, ITALIA
Email: (work:) staff at cadlab.sublink.org, (home:) alex at am.sublink.org
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