ksh color coding prompt problem

[mefisto]

Greetings all,

in order to have a reminder when switching to root, I am trying to colour code the prompts. It is working for the user, but not for root. I have copied the working prompt from the ~/.profile to the /root.profile:

export PS1='\e[0;31m\u@\h\e[00m:# '

but it does not work when I su to root. I have checked $TERM and it shows xterm.

Interestingly, when I log out of Openbox session and log in as root, the FVWM terminal shows the root's prompt correctly.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Kindest regards,

M

[jggimi]

The ~/.profile is sourced at login. If you want to use it with su(1), use su() with the -l option. Alternatively, if you require sourcing /root/.profile, install the sysutils/sudo package and use sudo with -i. The built-in doas(1) can provide a shell with -s, but it is not a login shell and will not source /root/.profile.

[mefisto]

Hi jggimi,

thank you very much, works just like you indicated. Any disadvantage creating an alias for su -l?

Kindest regards,

M

[jggimi]

There are occasions when you might not want to use su() in a login shell, such as when executing something as a normal user (e.g.: a database owner) and you want or need your existing shell environment variables.

[mefisto]

Hi jggimi,

thank you, that is a valid point.

Is there a way do mark the issue solved?

Kindest regards,

M

[jggimi]

I believe you may be able to edit the title by editing the top post, and then clicking on the "Advanced" button.