Using Finch

User Setup

1 Only members of the wheel administrative group can use Finch. For more information please see the finch manpage. 2 Always use a POSIX.2 or Bourne-type compatible shell. Finch installs Bash by default. For more information please see the bash FAQ entry.

Finch's shell prompt

There are 3 different Finch prompts. They tell you in a logical manner which of the following 3 environments you are currently in. Requires bash or sh shell, which use PS1 for the prompt variable. The file . /etc/profile must sourced.

Prompt components:

Styling and color scheme:

How to 'su' and preserve Finch's login profile

# Assuming a bash shell
sudo su -l

# Or with /bin/sh
sudo su
. /etc/profile

Enter / exit the finch chroot

Most times, we just need to switch in and out of the finch chroot. This is very simple, just type:

finch chroot
exit

To do the same thing, but also become the root user:

sudo finch chroot
exit

And that's all there is to it.

Other 'finch' sub-commands

finch:
     Access the Finch FreeBSD chroot environment. `man finch` for more info.

Usage:
     $ finch <command> [args]

Commands:

     chroot    - Chroot into Finch FreeBSD (`chroot /path/to/finch`).
     start     - Mount Finch and start it's rc.d services.
     stop      - Stop Finch's rc.d services and unmount "finch/dev".
     restart   - Same as `finch stop` followed by `finch start`.
     status    - Report on Finch service status (enabled/disabled).
     export    - Map a new command into Finch exports (`finch export <cmd>`).
     -export   - Remove a command from Finch exports (`finch -export <cmd>`).
     <export>  - Run a command listed in Finch exports (`finch <export>`).
     update    - Update the Finch scripts (this program) to the latest version.
     refresh   - Refresh /finch/etc/ files (resolv.conf, localtime & passwd).
     bootstrap - Run the curl-based online installation script `finch-bootstrap`.
     realpath  - The real path to Finch ("$finch_realpath", "/path/to/finch").
     --version - Print the current version of Finch and exit.
     -h,--help - Display this message and exit.

Realpath:
     /mnt/disk0/finch

Exports:
     man, pkg, qjail

Version:
     1.00b, 2180681d76, Fri Mar 21 19:32:06 GMT 2014.

Bugs:
     Can be reported at http://dreamcat4.github.io/finch/support

Created by:
     Dreamcat4, dreamcat4@gmail.com (C 2014). FreeBSD License.

Read the manpages

# Learn about finch
man finch

# Learn about qjail
man qjail

Finch exports

Refreshing '/etc' files

It is necessary to refresh certain /etc files in the Finch system if they have changed in the host system such as:

Just issue a finch refresh, finch restart, or reboot your host system.