CS 1206: Assignment 2

Due Friday, February 6, 1998 by 5pm

100 Points

Customizing Your Shell

Your assignment is to customize the behavior of ksh, your login shell, to your personal taste. The assignment has 3 parts.

Part I: The Ksh Man Page And Your Configuration

Read the man page for ksh. The man page explains all of the features supported by the shell, and also documents the various shell variables that tailor the behavior of ksh.

Then examine the ``.profile'' and ``.kshrc'' files in your home directory. See which shell variables are set or altered by these files, and make sure that you understand what behavior these settings change. Also notice the aliases that are created for you in the default setup of your account.

Part II: Customization

Pick at least TEN different aspects of ksh's behavior that you can alter by setting or changing the values of shell variables. Modify your startup files so that your customizations will take effect each time you login. If you need suggestions, look at the ksh man page on-line; it includes an alphabetical list of all shell variables that affect its behavior.

In addition to setting shell variables, make at least FIVE new command aliases to use as shorthand abbreviations for commands. Pick aliases that you believe will be personally useful.

Part III: Submitting Your Answers

You are to hand in your assignment by sending an email message to the address cs1206@ei.cs.vt.edu. To receive credit, your mail message must be received by this account by the time and date listed above. It is your responsibility to successfully submit your assignment via email (remember that you will receive an auto-reply by the system when your message has been received successfully). Also, send yourself a copy for future reference. The messsage must be a plain ASCII text file, with no attachments, and in exactly the format defined below. Do not insert any extra notes or explanations.

Note: The subject line of your email message should be: DHH HW2 where you substitute the day of your lab for D, and the hour of your lab for HH (e.g., if your lab is Thursday at 9, you would write H9 HW2 for your subject line). This index can also be found in the course index table on your syllabus. If you have questions regarding this assignment send an e-mail message to your GTA's account (rmitch@csgrad.cs.vt.edu or vanmetre@csgrad.cs.vt.edu) with the subject line: DHH HW2 Question.

The body of your email message must be a plain ASCII text file that contains the following:

• Your PID.
• Your name.
• Your student ID number.
• A plain ASCII writeup describing each shell variable or keybinding you modified. Describe the purpose of the modification, how the behavior of the shell differs as a result, and which startup file you placed it in and why. Similarly describe each command alias you added.
• At the end of your message, include a copy of each startup file that you modified. If you include more than one file, be sure to clearly mark where each file begins and ends. Using Elm you can include other files through vi, with Pine and the Pico editor check the commands for including files, with Berkely mail you use the ~r command to include external files. Check for correct usage in your mail program's help system.