How to install Bash on FreeBSD?

Question

I really find that using bash helps a lot, when you need to retrieve strings of text that you used previously.

But how can I install it on FreeBSD?

I have tried typing bash into the terminal, but that returns the error: bash: not found

If you're going to switch shells, you might as well switch to zsh. What features are in zsh and missing from bash, or vice versa? — Gilles 'SO- stop being evil', Jul 19 '12 at 23:31
I recommend looking at the FreeBSD handbook for this kind of questions. Installing Applications: Packages and Ports — Gilles 'SO- stop being evil', Jul 19 '12 at 23:33

D_Bye · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-19T13:11:24.850

9

Assuming you have the ports tree installed, it's as easy as

cd /usr/ports/shells/bash
make all install clean

If you don't have the ports tree, just do this:

portsnap fetch extract

and then try again. You'll need to periodically update the ports tree:

portsnap fetch update

EDIT

As pointed out by sr_ in a comment, FreeBSD also offers precompiled binary packages of many (most, but not all) ports. In practice, while they usually offer a faster install, I find the pkg_* tools don't handle installing dependencies as well as the ports system, so it can sometimes take a few goes to get everything working. However, it's well worth looking at pkg_add and friends.

There is a new poject under way, called pkgng, which aims to address the problems with the current pkg_* tools. It's still fairly new, but it looks good.

edited Jul 19 '12 at 13:11

answered Jul 19 '12 at 12:54

D_Bye

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Thank you, I have just tried that now, and I do need the ports tree - which is currently "fetching". – Kevdog777 Jul 19 '12 at 12:59
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There're also binary packages, i.e. pkg_add -r bash should suffice... (see this for more (maybe slightly dated) information) – sr_ Jul 19 '12 at 13:00
@sr_ - good point. My first recourse is always to ports, so I seldom even think about precompiled packages. – D_Bye Jul 19 '12 at 13:03
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To make this bash binary your default shell run chsh -s /usr/local/bin/bash as the user you want to change the shell for. – Tim Jul 19 '12 at 13:34
This also works for zsh. – Sildoreth Apr 14 '15 at 20:16

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 27 '23 at 11:11

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Nowadays, it is enough to just install the binary package:

pkg install bash

The pkg_* family of tools is deprecated and no longer present on any supported FreeBSD release.

If you don't have a good reason, there is no need to build Bash from ports.

answered Jan 27 '23 at 11:11

Mateusz Piotrowski

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How to install Bash on FreeBSD?

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