/bin/sh is a symbolic link that doesn't point to /bin/bash

Question

I was installing the software environment of Armadeus experiment board APF27DEV, and when I tried the make command, it gave me the following error message:

On your system /bin/sh is a symbolic link that doesn't point to /bin/bash --> please correct that !
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4 2013-08-03 20:57 /bin/sh -> dash

To resolve this error, I've tried to change all the shebangs from #!/bin/sh to #!/bin/bash, and I've also tried the following command:

ln -s /bin/bash /bin/sh

But, all that I've done didn't resolve the problem. Could anyone please help me out with this problem?

This would be a bug in their software so you will need to take it up with them. — psusi, Aug 04 '13 at 00:10

score 32 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 03 '22 at 20:26

32

You were almost there with your ln command, except you probably needed to include the -f flag ('force') in order to overwrite the old link. Also it's preferable to use a relative path for the target:

sudo ln -sf bash /bin/sh

When you're done with the install, you can revert to the system default with:

sudo ln -sf dash /bin/sh

There should be no need to change the script file's shebangs.

edited Apr 03 '22 at 20:26

BeastOfCaerbannog

14,585

answered Aug 03 '13 at 23:53

steeldriver

136,215
21
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9

It would be better to run sudo dpkg-reconffigure dash and choose the option to not use dash to provide /bin/sh. If you do it with dpkg, it will update other parts of your system (like the manpages) to match. – mkasberg Aug 12 '18 at 21:38
sudo dpkg-reconfigure dash

jalalipop

Mar 27 '23 at 18:30

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 03 '13 at 23:49

2

The problem must not be /bin/sh pointing at dash because that's default (I just checked on my end and it was the same). The problem must be elsewhere; the package doesn't seem to be compatible with Ubuntu out-of-the-box.

Perhaps in the Makefile you may find a line executing a script through sh explicitly, i.e. sh path/to/script. Replace all such occurrences of sh for bash, and report back your results.

answered Aug 03 '13 at 23:49

Severo Raz

5,971

Thank you for your answer!!! I've known a different way from what you've told me. – batur Aug 04 '13 at 07:57

/bin/sh is a symbolic link that doesn't point to /bin/bash

2 Answers2

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