launcher ignores SHELL

[Steve]

Double clicking msys2.exe (or mingw32.exe or mingw64.exe) results in a mintty window running bash, but SHELL is set to /usr/bin/zsh.

Running mintty from the bash prompt opens a mintty window with zsh as expected.

[Liam]

Did you see this? It would be nice if it respected Window's %SHELL% but this will get you to open the right shell:

#3

[Steve]

I've tried setting db_shell: /usr/bin/zsh in nsswitch.conf and I've tried setting the shell in /etc/passwd. Neither changes the behavior.

Running mintty from bash is using the shell set in SHELL, and falls back to nsswitch.conf.

Hmmm, wonder if I have the most recent version of msys2-launcher. Is there someway for me to check the version?

[Liam]

From your shell:

pacman -Ss msys2-launcher

That assumes of course that you installed it from pacman.

From: Steve [mailto:[e-mail]]
Sent: Monday, 4 April, 2016 16:30
To: elieux/msys2-launcher [e-mail]
Cc: Liam [e-mail]
Subject: Re: [elieux/msys2-launcher] launcher ignores SHELL (#6)

I've tried setting db_shell: /usr/bin/zsh in nsswitch.conf and I've tried setting the shell in /etc/passwd. Neither changes the behavior.

Running mintty from bash is using the shell set in SHELL, and falls back to nsswitch.conf.

Hmmm, wonder if I have the most recent version of msys2-launcher. Is there someway for me to check the version?

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[Steve]

Says msys2-launcher-git 0.3.19.f91905f-1

Not sure how that relates to your git repo

[Liam]

https://github.com/elieux/msys2-launcher/commits/f91905f6bb97182e520ba1aaeba3997afd78b2da

That's an old version (from 2015). I'm not sure what the process is to get a new package built, but in the mean time you should probably build it manually.

[Steve]

Thanks for your help!

Rebuilding the package solved the problem. One little hiccup was the install of the cross compiler, it didn't install the cross crt correctly but after I reinstalled the cross-crt it worked.

[David Macek]

Thanks for confirming that the new version works with SHELL as well (assuming you have env in the db_shell line of /etc/nsswitch.conf). I'll try to get a new package uploaded.

[kflu]

I have the following version. And I have the same issue where db_shell setting in nsswitch.conf is not respected.

pacman -Ss msys2-launcher
msys/msys2-launcher-git 0.3.32.56c2ba7-2 (base) [installed]
    Helper for launching MSYS2 shells

[David Macek]

I've got the same version and db_shell is respected. What version of msys2-runtime are you running?

$ pacman -Ss msys2-runtime$
msys/msys2-runtime 2.8.2-1 (base) [installed]

What are you setting in /etc/nsswitch.conf and how are you testing it?

[kflu]

My runtime is the same as yours. Below are relative info. How I tested it - I just close the msys2 console and re-open it through the msys2 start menu entry which was installed. And it still gives me bash. Is this not how I suppose to open it?

$ pacman -Ss msys2-runtime$
msys/msys2-runtime 2.8.2-1 (base) [installed]
    Posix emulation engine for Windows

$ which zsh
/usr/bin/zsh

$ cat /etc/nsswitch.conf
# Begin /etc/nsswitch.conf

passwd: files db
group: files db

db_enum: cache builtin

db_home: windows cygwin desc
db_shell: /usr/bin/zsh
db_gecos: cygwin desc

# End /etc/nsswitch.conf

[David Macek]

The Start menu shortcut is not msys2-launcher. msys2-launcher consists of msys2.exe, mingw64.exe, and mingw32.exe (and *.ini files). The Start menu shortcut points to msys2_shell.cmd and it only knows bash. If you need to use msys2_shell.cmd, but want it to respect your default shell, you need to file an issue (or +1 an existing one) at https://github.com/msys2/msys2 or https://github.com/alexpux/msys2-packages.

[kflu]

What's the difference between those .exe launchers and the msys_shell.cmd batch file? What's the catch if I launch those launchers directly?

[David Macek]

Apart from msys2_shell.cmd not respecting your default shell? It cannot be pinned to the taskbar and it shows a terminal window for a second when it's starting. See its help text below for more.

The .exe launchers only start MinTTY, either with your default shell (no arguments), or with a custom command (passed as arguments). It can pre-set the environment according to its .ini file. It's pinnable and doesn't show any intermediate windows.

> msys2_shell -help
Usage:
    msys2_shell.cmd [options] [bash parameters]

Options:
    -mingw32 | -mingw64 | -msys[2]   Set shell type
    -defterm | -mintty | -conemu     Set terminal type
    -here                            Use current directory as working
                                     directory
    -where DIRECTORY                 Use specified DIRECTORY as working
                                     directory
    -[use-]full-path                 Use full currnent PATH variable
                                     instead of triming to minimal
    -no-start                        Do not use "start" command and
                                     return bash resulting errorcode as
                                     this batch file resulting errorcode
    -help | --help | -? | /?         Display this help and exit

Any parameter that cannot be treated as valid option and all
following parameters are passed as bash command parameters.

[kflu]

Thanks for the explanation!

[Bruce Sun]

@elieux Just want to confirm, as this post said, will putting SHELL=/usr/bin/zsh in msys2.ini work?

[David Macek]

That depends on if you have db_shell: env in your /etc/nsswitch.conf and if your version of MSYS2 supports it. (I'm not totally sure if it is.)