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As I know, root's default shell is configured csh and normal user's default shell is sh in FreeBSD. And in Ubuntu, root is dash, normal user is bash. (refer: What's the Ubuntu's default shell?)

Why are they configured differently?

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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debian_Almquist_shell - Dash, is faster, Bash has more features for the end-user. Since you should almost never be using root shell normally, you don't really need all the features of bash. – Zoredache Feb 24 '11 at 2:47

migrated from serverfault.com Feb 24 '11 at 3:15

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According to the FAQ:

In FreeBSD's case, the reason is that csh is the only shell "guaranteed" to be on the base filesystem (stuff from ports usually winds up in /usr/local/bin, which defaults to a different filesystem). This is important because you don't ever want there to be a situation where root can't log in because it's using a shell on a different (unmounted) filesystem.

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/bin/sh is guaranteed available too. But csh has better interactive features, plus it's become an accepted tradition. Other BSDs don't follow it; OpenBSD's root's shell is /bin/ksh (a pdksh derivative). – Gilles Feb 24 '11 at 21:15
@Gilles Right. I chose ksh as root's shell on my NetBSD VPS. I was just repeating the "official" explanation. Frankly, csh is a big reason I like having toor around: I much prefer bash or zsh myself. – Hank Gay Feb 24 '11 at 21:43

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