RFE: Custom shell for container user

[seandilda]

Would it be possible to add an option specifying what shell is added in /etc/passwd for the new container user? I'm using x11docker to launch a different terminal, but I end up stuck with /bin/sh as my shell. It'd be wonderful if I could pass a path on the command line to use instead.

[mviereck]

In my tests I found that environment variable SHELL supersedes the setting in /etc/passwd. It should work if you set e.g. --env SHELL=/bin/zsh.

x11docker sets SHELL=/bin/bash if available, otherwise it sets SHELL=/bin/sh. https://github.com/mviereck/x11docker/blob/master/x11docker#L5488

Please try out if that works for you.

[seandilda]

When I use xterm, I see the behavior you describe. When I use terminator, the $SHELL value is ignored and /etc/passwd is used instead.

terminator does allow me to specify an alternative shell, so I do have a workaround. However, I thought it might be a generally useful feature to allow an alternative shell for the container.

[mviereck]

When I use xterm, I see the behavior you describe. When I use terminator, the $SHELL value is ignored and /etc/passwd is used instead.

Indeed, I can confirm that.
I checked xfce4-terminal, it ignores SHELL, too. gnome-terminal regards it. This seems to be inconsistent across several terminals.

I once rejected a pull request for this: #26
I wanted to avoid a growing number of options. Now I consider to add a --shell option because setting SHELL does not work reliable.

Imho terminals should regard SHELL and should get a bug report if they don't.
POSIX says:

SHELL
This variable shall represent a pathname of the user's preferred command language interpreter.

[mviereck]

I've added a new option --shell. Something like --shell=/bin/zsh should work now.
If your preferred shell is bash and has been set wrong by terminator before, it should be set automatically now without the need of --shell.

[seandilda]

Thanks!