add-shell

Register valid login shells

TLDR

Add a shell to /etc/shells

$ sudo add-shell [/usr/local/bin/zsh]

Add multiple shells

$ sudo add-shell [/bin/fish] [/bin/zsh]

add-shell is a Debian utility that safely adds new shell paths to /etc/shells. The /etc/shells file lists valid login shells that users can select with chsh.It copies /etc/shells to /etc/shells.tmp, appends any given shells that are not already present, then copies the temporary file back over /etc/shells. Skipping already-present entries makes it safe to call repeatedly from package maintainer scripts. Its counterpart remove-shell deletes entries.

PARAMETERS

shell

Absolute path to the shell executable to add

CAVEATS

Requires root privileges. The shell executable must exist and be valid. Not available on all distributions; on systems without this command, manually edit /etc/shells.

HISTORY

add-shell is part of the Debian packaging utilities, created to provide safe manipulation of /etc/shells during package installation scripts.

RESOURCES

Source code · Documentation