About fsh2

So you want to know more about fsh2.
Background of traditional fsh: whenever fsh is invoked as a login shell (argv[0] starts with a -), it acts like du(1) and goes through your directory to see how much space you are using. If you are under the limit, then you are allowed to log in (a normal shell is executed, traditially /bin/csh). If not, then you aren't allowed to log in until you have removed enough files to be under the limit.

Enter fsh2: the main feature of fsh2 is that it has a 'limited shell' to allow for cleanup without access to someone else's account. A second feature is that it supports users choosing their own shells via a .fshshell file. You can choose any shell from /etc/shells and fsh will execute it (as a login shell if fsh2 was invoked that way).

Note about the beta shell: your login will not break when scs type 'make install' on the latest fsh. My shell is not /usr/local/bin/fsh2, it is a step ahead in the development process whenever I'm changing anything. Only after my copy of fsh-beta seems to work is it copied to /usr/local/bin/fsh2.

This page is the Official Outlet for fsh-beta (aka fsh2) information. Bookmark this page now if you are a beta tester and check it before sendaing any mail to problem/software/scs...thanks for your help.

For beta testers

Planned Features

• rksh in place of the 'limited shell'. restricted Korn Shell will allow users to type "rm *.o" and should make it much easier to add commands to the restricted shell as we play with it. Hmm, rksh is perhaps more restrictive than we'd like (it doesn't let you 'cd'). But I might be able to get around that...
• 'quota'-system knowledge so it doesn't take 10 seconds to traverse the directory on login. Just like a user can type 'quota -v' to find out usage, fsh2 will do the appropriate work and get the usage from the quota system in linear time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will my shell, /cs/bin/unsupported, work?

Yes, provided you start it up from a supported shell like sh/csh. Generally, it is actually easier to start up sh-based shells from csh because sh-based shells won't look at .login.

Why is there a delay at login?

fsh2 has to see how much disk space you are using manually. This delay should be removed in future versions. See above.

I can't type 'make clean' in the limited shell?

Because make can execute arbitrary commands, 'make clean' is not currently a supported feature. With rksh will come a makeclean command that will simulate (via some options) most 'make clean' functionality.

This proposed 'brownid' identity confuses me. What is the benefit of this? What's this have to do with Kerberos?

Kerberos at Brown is keyed to the netID so if we want to offer kerberize login later, we'll need to take your username (dwj) and look up the corresponding netID for authentication/encryption purposes. The brownid map will make that possible. We may also hand out accounts differently: in the future, you may need your netID/password to get your account's password rather than getting it from a TA or a member of tstaff.

Will my existing groups stay intact? Will I be (transparently) added to some new groups? I'm not in group 'ugrad' (my account was created when I worked for graphics, before I turned in my concentration forms). Does this matter?

Currently, you won't get added to any groups you aren't already in, but you will gain identities (which currently only dole out disk space. It doesn't matter what goups you are/were in or not in. In the future, getting an identity may give you a group, but beta testing fsh2 will not change your group status.