no root login after changing shell

[Charles Howse]

> i wanted to change the shell for user root to bash.
> in the freebsd online handbook i found this command:
> 
> # echo "/usr/local/bin/bash" >> /etc/shells
> 
> 
> but what i didnt know at this moment, that i have to install bash
> before.
> so i logged of as user root and get now on login the following error:
> 
> su: /usr/local/bin/bash: No such file or directory
> 
> can anybody please help me ...
> thanx

Been there, done that, I sympathize with you.
The proper way to have done that would be:
Install bash
As root, type chsh
That will open vi, or your configured editor.
Then change the shell line to: /usr/local/bin/bash

Alternately, you can, as root, type:
Chpass -s /usr/local/bin/bash root
This aviods opening vi and the editing I mentioned above.

As far as recovering from this problem, I'm kinda a newbie myself, when
I did that, I finally re-installed.  Maybe someone can point you to the
easy way to fix it.