Bash is not fully functional for a new user

Question

I just created a new user on my system using useradd -d /home/users/john -m john (Using Ubuntu 11.04). This worked fine, but when I changed to john, my bash is not fully functional. That is, it has no autocomplete, I can not use they arrow keys (e.g. UP to get the last command), and instead of showing my current directory it only shows $. I loaded a .bashrc but this appears to be completely ignored. What could cause this?

PD: this user is already working on the system and I rather not remove it and add it again, if possible.

Define what you mean by "when I changed to john". Did you log in with that user at the main console, on a pty, through ssh, or did you `su` or `su -`? — Paul Tomblin, Nov 27 '11 at 19:36
What are the permissions/ownership on the .bashrc you loaded? — Paul Tomblin, Nov 27 '11 at 19:37

score 55 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 27 '11 at 20:01

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Probably john's shell is not /bin/bash, but /bin/sh. On Ubuntu, that's a shell intended to execute scripts fast, with no fancy interactive features such as command line edition. Check last column of grep john /etc/passwd or getent passwd john. You might want to run chsh -s /bin/bash john to change user's shell.

edited Nov 27 '11 at 20:01

Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'

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answered Nov 27 '11 at 19:48

rvs

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Excellent, that was indeed the case! – Nov 27 '11 at 20:03
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Just a note. In Ubuntu `/bin/sh` is symbolic link to `dash` i.e. `/bin/dash`, so ultimately user's shell is `/bin/dash`. – Sachin Divekar Nov 27 '11 at 20:52
I had to log out of all the users' sessions as well. – Sydwell Feb 11 '21 at 05:53

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 07 '12 at 07:00

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you can jump between shells by typing the name of the shell

$ bash

and in the next line you will get this following prompt

user@hostname$

which is the bash shell. Your up arrow key and autocomplete will work now

answered Nov 07 '12 at 07:00

Saad

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It should be noted that is obviously temporary. The currently accepted answer has a more permanent solution. – jw013 Nov 07 '12 at 14:30
ok I didnt know that, thanks for that I will save the accepted answer for future reference – Saad Nov 08 '12 at 06:28

Bash is not fully functional for a new user

2 Answers2