Buildroot: change default root shell

Question

We've added bash to our buildroot configuration and would now like to make it the default shell for the root user. I'd prefer not to add a passwd file to our overlay so is there some way through buildroot's config to make the root shell default to /bin/bash rather than /bin/sh?

Answer 1

You can set the shell for all users to bash by setting BR2_SYSTEM_BIN_SH_BASH, i.e. in menuconfig set System configuration -> /bin/sh to bash. This will generate /bin/sh as a symlink to bash.

To set it for the root user only, you'll need a post-build script such as:

#!/bin/sh
sed -i '/^root:/s,:/bin/sh$,:/bin/bash,' ${TARGET_DIR}/etc/passwd