/etc/shells

[Tony Chiu]

Hi all,

I want to know whether we have to include all the shells allowed to be used in the system in /etc/shells file. My system currently does not have /etc/shells file, but I need to set some a/c to /usr/bin/false but allow them to use ftp. Adding /usr/bin/false in /etc/shells is a must to do so.

Thanks in advance,
Tony.

[Vincent Stedema]

Tony,

All shells that are used by users who need ftp access need to be included in /etc/shells. If, for instance, only one user uses csh, but this user does'nt need ftp access, csh doesnt's have to be included in /etc/shells.

Vincent

[federico_3]

If this file does not exist all the shells are allowed ( also /usr/bin/false)

Federico

[Tony Chiu]

Thanks Vincent and Federico.

It seems that the man page of /etc/shells is quite vague, it does not say about shells for ftp.

Tony.

[Vincent Stedema]

Tony,

/etc/shells is used to identify which shells have ftp access and which don't. These shells are not used during the ftp-session itself. You can't restrict ftp access for a specific user by giving them a rksh shell. If you want to restrict the "shell" of an ftp-user and you're using hp-ux 11.00, take a look at the man page for "ftpaccess".

Vincent

[Bruce Regittko_1]

Hi,

According to the man page for getusershell(3c) - which is used by ftpd(1m) - the following are the "standard shells" if the /etc/shells file does not exist:

/sbin/sh
/usr/bin/sh
/usr/bin/rsh
/usr/bin/ksh
/usr/bin/rksh
/usr/bin/csh
/usr/bin/keysh

Since /usr/bin/false is not in the list, you would have to create an /etc/shells file.

For other ftp access related issues, check out the man pages for ftpaccess(4) and ftpusers(4).

--Bruce

[Berlene Herren]

Tony, rule of thumb is, if your user gets a 530 error trying to ftp, type #env, check out the shell and add it to /etc/shells.

Berlene