On Sat, 16 Oct 1999 01:17:36 +0200, "Tommy Smith" <thsmith@online.no> wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I am adding a super user with the vipw application.  I dont understand the meaning of the shell parameter?  

Why are you "adding a super user"?  Having root isn't enough?

Anyway, shell parameter is the login shell.  You log in, and you get
the shell running as your login shell.  That's all.

> The result of copying the root shell parameter: /bin/csh, turns my prompt to: $hostname {$x}, where x is increasing for each command I type. 
> 
> example:
> macen {1} please
> macen {2} help
> .
> .
> 
> I have searched the FAQ and the manual but I havent found anything that explains this in depth.
> Does anyone know what to do? (links to docs?...)

Excerpt from csh(1):

   Pre-defined and environment variables
     The following variables have special meaning to the shell.  Of these,
     argv, cwd, home, path, prompt, shell and status are always set by the
     shell.  Except for cwd and status, this setting occurs only at initial-
     ization; these variables will not then be modified unless done explicitly
     by the user.

     The shell copies the environment variable USER into the variable user,
     TERM into term, and HOME into home, and copies these back into the envi-
     ronment whenever the normal shell variables are reset.  The environment
     variable PATH is likewise handled; it is not necessary to worry about its
     setting other than in the file .cshrc as inferior csh processes will im-
     port the definition of path from the environment, and re-export it if you
     then change it.
[...]
     prompt     The string that is printed before each command is read from an
                interactive terminal input.  If a `!' appears in the string it
                will be replaced by the current event number unless a preced-
                ing `\' is given.  Default is `% ', or `# ' for the super-us-
                er.

Ken