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I'm using this in my .profile to switch to bash on login:

case $- in
  *i*)
    # Interactive session. Try switching to bash.
    if [ -z "$BASH" ]; then # do nothing if running under bash already
      bash=$(command -v bash)
      if [ -x "$bash" ]; then
        export SHELL="$bash"
        exec "$bash -l"
      fi
    fi
esac

Is there a way to get the following to execute automatically after the bash shell opens?

PS1='\[\e[1;91m\][\u@\h \w]\$\[\e[0m\] '

I put the line in a .bash_profile but it does not change the prompt.

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3
  • 1
    have you tried to run "chsh" to change your login shell? Commented Sep 7, 2016 at 18:53
  • not installed, this is on a very old solaris box Commented Sep 7, 2016 at 19:14
  • 1
    i wonder how old your bash is.. what if you have to export the PS1 variable? do you have truss installed? maybe use truss to see if it reads in .bash_profile.. or add debug echo statements to bash_profile to see if it is being executed Commented Sep 7, 2016 at 19:19

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
3

For interactive shell, put the PS1 line in your ~/.bashrc, not in ~/.profile and source it :

source ~/.bashrc

(or loggoff/in)

Moreover, if you'd like to permanently change your shell : 

chsh -s /bin/bash

or edit as root with vipw or editor /etc/passwd

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2
  • 1
    it worked with .bashrc vs .bash_profile Commented Sep 7, 2016 at 20:17
  • Invoking chsh -s /bin/bash [username] may throw the error chsh: can only change local entries; use ypchsh instead.. Commented Aug 8, 2017 at 14:08
2

This should just work:

...
export SHELL="$bash"
PS1='\[\e[1;91m\][\u@\h \w]\$\[\e[0m\] ' exec $bash -l
...

If you have root or similar privilege:

usermod -s $bash dave111
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