Re: bash is Bashed!

From: Fielder George Dowding <fgdowding@iceworm-enterprises.org>
Date: Tue May 15 2007 - 17:13:43 AKDT

Kevin Miller wrote:
> Fielder George Dowding wrote:
>> I have run into a strange situation (my workstation at the Mabel T.
>> Caverly Senior Center) where bash does not act like, well, bash. Here
>> are the symptoms:
>>
>> Type "set" to see all the environmental variables.
>> 1. Regular user: a bash script scrolls ???
>> 2. Root: the environmental variables are printed to screen.
>> 3. Regular user after typing "sh" to get the old Borne Shell, normal
>> results a number 2, above.
>>
>> I suspect there is a mis-configured something somewhere. Can anyone help?
>
> SUSE's always done that (well, at least as long as I've used it.) I
> just tried on a Debian box and their script is even longer. But if you
> do a:
> set | more
> you'll see the normal variables at the beginning. Not sure what the
> script is doing but it's 'normal', i.e., part of the stock install I
> believe...
>
> ...Kevin

Wow! Yet another reason not to use SuSE! =:-)}}} Be that as it may, here
is the background to my query:

At Mabel T. Caverly Senior Center (MTCSC or mtcsc) I assumed the
position of volunteer resident geek. Back in the late 90's I would help
with the Windows boxes, but now I just tell everybody, "I don't do
Windows."

In 2002 MTCSC got a grant from the Rasmusen Foundation for three
computer systems on the condition the MTCSC would contract for support.
The Executive Director, Sandy, worked a deal with another not-for-profit
for Windows support. Well, by 2006, times had changed, and the MTCSC was
again on its own as far as Windows support was concerned, and we found
ourselves in the same boat as before the grand, namely, Windows boxen
with no distribution or system restoration disks.

So when,the box used for membership records and mailing labels refused
to print, and no action on my part (re-installed the printer driver)
could convince W2000 that to print, I installed SuSE 9.1 and got things
working. However, it appeared to me the harddrive was dying. Not wanting
to go through another panic to restore production to this box even with
Linux, I discussed with Sandy the possibility of setting up a RAID on
the box. She gave me the green light and $200.00 to get the hardware.

Boy, was I in Hog^H^H^HGeek Heaven! All three boxen in my little corner
with Debian etch (at the time testing). The server (an old Dell 166 or
so) is the Internet server making contact with the Linksys wireless
router by and internal Xyzel PCI card. All boxen have 10/100 Ethernet
cards and are connected through a repurposed router that had a built
four port 10/100 switch. I now was able to freely ssh and scp to my
heart's content. It was easy to update or add software when I brought in
my traveling Debian mirror. Then disaster struck my workstation.

After some more panic harddrive swapping, some cli configuration, and a
thorough X configuration, my workstation seems to operate as it should.
It wasn't until I wanted to set up a bash script to backup the files
from the membership box to my box or the server box, did I begin to
notice strange bash behavior.

I wanted to scp the files in question to my box, then move them with a
new name that included the date of the back-up into their appropriate
archive sub-directory. This is where I discovered I couldn't set an
environmental variable. I couldn't do it at the command line nor could I
do it in the bash script. I have been futzing with this problem for a
couple of weeks - it is a volunteer position, so I usually don't spend
more than about six or eight hours a week on it. Then most of my time is
spent in production rather than sysadmin tasks (except for those noted
above).

Thus, I just discovered this strange bash behavior. Maybe I just need to
reinstall the operating system, but that seems like the solution from
Redmond. OTH, the system on the box started out as sarge some time ago,
so there may be some strange configuration files that did not make the
upgrade.

Cheerio!

-- 
Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Best regards       Debian/GNU Linux
Fielder George Dowding, Chief Iceworm        "etch" Testing
dba Iceworm Enterprises, Anchorage, Alaska   User Number 269482
Since 1976 - Over 30 Years of Service.       "Seth" 186667
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Received on Tue May 15 17:14:01 2007

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