Re: PROMPT

[Oliver Grimm <grimm@particle.phys.ethz.ch>]

Sorry, I meant to write that PROMPT=Hallo does not work - forget the
equal sign in my first mail.

I am not using RedHat, but Suse Linux 6.1. But I figured out the problem
now:

The /etc/zshrc file sources /etc/profile, which contains the following:

if test -z "$EMACS" ; then
    if   [ -n "$ZSH_VERSION" ]; then
        precmd ()
        {
            if test "$UID" = 0; then
                PS1="%m:`pwd -r` # "
            else
                PS1="%n@%m:`pwd -r` > "
            fi
        }
    fi
fi

Uncommenting the second PS1=... lines solved the problem. I assume that
this defines a function that is called every time anything is executed
by the shell, and so also make a change of PROMPT impossible.

I wonder if this was intended by the designer of the profile ?

Cheers, Oliver.

> } I do have a strange problem with the PROMPT variable, persisting since
> } some time. After upgrading to Linux 6.1, the command
> } 'PROMPT  Hallo' does not change the prompt anymore.
> } 
> } Now, the version of zsh is 3.0 (dated 26 June 1996), but it seems
> } that it's not the fault of zsh, since on a different machine with the
> } same version of zsh (but not under Linux but Solaris Unix), this
> } does work properly.
> 
> Did you recompile zsh after installing the new OS, or are you still
> running the old binary?  I've had a number of strange problems when
> running older Linux binaries on my upgraded OS, including things like
> some of the libc string functions not working correctly -- neither the
> "par" paragraph-formatting package nor the old zmail beta that I'd been
> using as my mailer could parse text properly any more, and the slightly
> newer version of zmail that I'm using now is unable to get the correct
> timezone (you may note that my Date: headers say +0000, though they do
> contain the GMT it would be if I were instantly teleported to England).
> 
> If `Linux 6.1' really does mean RedHat, you should install the zsh-3.0.5
> RPM (and then carefully consider deleting the /etc/z* files) and let us
> know if the problem persists.
> 
> -- 
> Bart Schaefer                                 Brass Lantern Enterprises
> http://www.well.com/user/barts              http://www.brasslantern.com
> 

=====================================================================
Oliver Grimm			   EMail: grimm@particle.phys.ethz.ch
ETH ZÜrich			   Telephone: ++41 - (0)1 - 633 65 01
Labor fÜr Hochenergiephysik	   Facsimile: ++41 - (0)1 - 633 11 04
CH-8093 ZÜrich