Change default shell when user not in /etc/passwd

Question

Any ideas on how can I change the shell to fish?

$ sudo usermod -s /usr/bin/fish jaan
usermod: user 'jaan' does not exist in /etc/passwd
$ getent passwd $USER
jaan:x:15466:94:Jaan A:/home/jaan:/bin/zsh

Related questions: user does not exist in /etc/passwd when trying to change the default shell Seems like it uses ldap.

$ cat /etc/nsswitch.conf
passwd:         compat ldap
group:          compat ldap
shadow:         compat ldap

# Having the NOTFOUND=return bit was breaking dns resolution on web1 and web2. But we probably
# don't want any of the mdns stuff so let's get rid of it all.
#hosts:          files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns mdns4
hosts:          files dns

networks:       files

protocols:      db files
services:       db files
ethers:         db files
rpc:            db files

netgroup:       ldap
automount:      ldap

So I installed ldap relevant package.

$ chsh.ldap
LDAP password for jaan:
Enter the new value, or press ENTER for the default
  Login Shell [/bin/zsh]: /usr/bin/fish
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/chsh.ldap", line 69, in <module>
    constants.NSLCD_USERMOD_SHELL: shell,
  File "/usr/share/nslcd-utils/nslcd.py", line 128, in usermod
    assert con.get_response() == constants.NSLCD_RESULT_BEGIN
  File "/usr/share/nslcd-utils/nslcd.py", line 103, in get_response
    return self.read_int32()
  File "/usr/share/nslcd-utils/nslcd.py", line 71, in read_int32
    return _int32.unpack(self.read(_int32.size))[0]
struct.error: unpack requires a string argument of length 4
$ which fish
/usr/bin/fish
$ chsh.ldap
LDAP password for jaan:
Enter the new value, or press ENTER for the default
  Login Shell [/bin/zsh]: "/usr/bin/fish"
/usr/bin/chsh.ldap: "/usr/bin/fish" is an invalid shell
$ /usr/bin/fish
(standard_in) 1: syntax error
Welcome to fish, the friendly interactive shell

Solution 1

Hold on, it's an LDAP user, there is a setting in LDAP that allows you to change the default shell for the user in them.

You can install ldap-account-manager which gives you an webfrontent for the ldap configuration.

apt install ldap-account-manager

This can be done on any server which you want to handle the configuration on. Since you will need to configure the server in the config files anyway. But I would recommend you install it on the server which has the ldap actually running, just so you can remember it easier.

Solution 2

Here is a hint : /usr/bin/chsh.ldap: "/usr/bin/fish" is an invalid shell. It seems that you should add /usr/bin/fish to /etc/shells.

Comments

[George Udosen]

Is that even possible?

[Abhishek Bhatia]

@George please check edit.

[George Udosen]

Look at this unix.stackexchange.com/questions/253833/…

[Abhishek Bhatia]

@George this doesn't work.

[muru]

The shell path should be in /etc/shells for chsh-like tools to accept it.

[Abhishek Bhatia]

@muru it's already there.

[muru]

@AbhishekBhatia is it? What exactly is in /etc/shells?

[Ziazis]

In general you should not try to switch the default shell on the machine that uses ldap but on the server which has the ldap server running and which has the actual database for the users.

[Abhishek Bhatia]

Hmm..chsh works only if the user in /etc/passwd.$ chsh -s `which fish` Password: chsh: user 'jaan' does not exist in /etc/passwd

[Max]

Ah... yes... I did not see that part of it...

[David Foerster]

That doesn't work when accounts are managed by LDAP. -1

[jchook]

Haha lovely, chsh.ldap -s /usr/bin/zsh myusername gives me a Segmentation fault.

[pim]

Then it should be reported here : launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nss-pam-ldapd/+bugs