.\"	$OpenBSD: shells.5,v 1.8 2007/05/31 19:19:58 jmc Exp $
.\"	$NetBSD: shells.5,v 1.3 1994/11/30 19:31:32 jtc Exp $
.\"
.\" Copyright (c) 1986, 1991, 1993
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.\"     @(#)shells.5	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/5/93
.\"
.Dd $Mdocdate: May 31 2007 $
.Dt SHELLS 5
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm shells
.Nd shell database
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
file contains a list of valid shells available on the system.
A shell is a command line interpreter that reads user input and executes
commands.
For each shell a single line should be present, consisting of the
shell's path, relative to root.
.Pp
A hash mark
.Pq Sq #
indicates the beginning of a comment; subsequent
characters up to the end of the line are not interpreted by the
routines which search the file.
Blank lines are also ignored.
.Pp
The
.Xr chpass 1
program will not let regular users change their default shell to one not
listed in the
.Nm
file.
The
.Xr ftpd 8
daemon denies access to users who are not using one of the listed shells.
.Sh FILES
.Bl -tag -width /etc/shells -compact
.It Pa /etc/shells
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr chpass 1 ,
.Xr login 1 ,
.Xr getusershell 3 ,
.Xr nologin 8
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Nm
file format appeared in
.Bx 4.3 tahoe .