How Can I Make /bin/sh point to /bin/bash?

Question

In Ubuntu, /bin/sh points to /bin/dash by default.

I want to use /bin/bash as my system-wide shell for /bin/sh. What is the best way to do this?

score 24 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 12 '18 at 21:36

24

As shown on this Ubuntu wiki page, you should run

sudo dpkg-reconfigure dash

and select the option not to use /bin/dash as the default shell. Making the change this way will not only fix the symlink /bin/sh, but will also configure other parts of your system to behave correctly, such as making sure that man sh points to the bash manpage instead of the dash one.

answered Aug 12 '18 at 21:36

mkasberg

1,394

Good to know. At the risk of hitting some mined terrain here: What would be a use-case for this? – Sebastian Stark Aug 12 '18 at 22:36
4

It isn't terribly uncommon for certain software to require this. For example, building Linux From Scratch requires /bin/sh to point to /bin/bash. – mkasberg Aug 13 '18 at 15:05
1

This one had me head scratchin' as VxWorks wrsdk for vscode threw error during a build because of this freaking dash prank. – daparic Mar 20 '24 at 07:03

How Can I Make /bin/sh point to /bin/bash?

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