When a user logs onto a UNIX account, a shell is immediately set
running.
The shell that is started depends on some predetermined settings in
special files that are executed during the logon process.
Ultimately then, the shell started during logon is determined by the
system administrator.
As will be seen in later chapters, a different shell can be set to
start at logon using the chsh command.
This shell is called a login (or root) shell.
This is a shell that runs at all times during a users session.
When the user exits the session the shell is terminated by the
operating system.
The login shell is a special kind of interactive shell.
The purpose of an interactive shell is to let the user interact with
the computer during a session.
The interactive shell (as discussed briefly in the begining of this
chapter) examines each command line entered by the user and then
executes the command if it is correct syntactically (in usage).
One must be careful when using the term correct however, as by correct
it is meant that the proper usage of the command (outlined in the man
page for that command) is used. The user could still enter a command
that makes absolutely no sense in terms of what it accomplishes, yet
is syntactically correct.
The shell has no way of checking for this.
A new interacive shell can be started within a login shell at any
time.
A subshell is a shell that runs underneath of an interactive shell. The user cannot interact directly with a subshell as subshells only take input from commands or another shell. A subshell is really just where a command is executed. When a command line is entered in an interactive shell, the command(s) may be passed to a subshell to execute. This would occur for exemple if a group of commads is enclosed in parentheses. Programs written in the shells will be automatically executed in subshells. It is important to understand that variables declared in an interactive shell are not automatically passed to a subshell. This will be covered in more detail in the chapters pertaining to the shells themselves.