unsolicited passwd file changes

[nevets]

It seems that OS upgrades force changes to my username entry in passwd file, forcing the TE to fish.
I prefer zsh.
Whilst I can retrospectively edit the line from fish back to zsh
'username':*1002:'username':/home/'useername':/usr/local/bin/zsh
Is there something in the upgrade process that can preserve my choice of TE?

[ericbsd]

It seems that OS upgrades force changes to my username entry in passwd file, forcing the TE to fish.
I prefer zsh.
Whilst I can retrospectively edit the line from fish back to zsh
'username':*1002:'username':/home/'useername':/usr/local/bin/zsh
Is there something in the upgrade process that can preserve my choice of TE?

An update should not change anything in passwd. Also, editing /etc/passwd is not best practice. It would be best to use pw or chsh to change the shell.

[nevets]

I think some pkg installs seem to effect changes in passwd. Last time I saw this was installing scanner related pkgs I think.
Perhaps there's an artefact somewhere in MATE configuration...?
chsh doesn't seem to update passwd to the new TE which is why I ee the file. Only then does MATE stop using fish.

[nevets]

If we seek to remove fish
pkg delete fish
then...
Installed packages to be REMOVED:
fish: 3.6.1_1
ghostbsd-utils: 22.10.11
So, why is ghostbsd-utils tied to the fish installation?
Is this what keeps editing and reverting my /etc/passwd file for user me?

[ericbsd]

Your shell should not be changed on update. There is nothing forcing fish back to a user.

[nevets]

Yet is has happened...
So,
1. Is it likely to crash my system if I remove root write access to the passwd file?
I'd like to trap the behaviour...
2. Is root able to reinstate write access later if I change the file permission?
I still think MATE might have an inclination to reassert fish if the associated pkgs are ungraded... somehow...

[ericbsd]

The best way to reproduce this would be to do pkg upgrade -f. If upgrades affect /etc/passwd it should be reproduced with that command.

[nevets]

I just went to upgrade and found "ztrack" was the wrong OS version - requiring an override.
I don't have ztrack installed.
So, I chose to use update station.
The update was the equivalent of upgrad -f, reinstalling everything.
It again edited my passwd file in /etc, changing zsh to fish for the user.

Can other users check the date/time of /etc/passwd and see if it matches the date of their recent update for them please...
Are any other users not using the default fish TE?

Not having fish installed, does anyone have any ideas how to get mouse 'right select > open in terminal' to work - it's does nothing now. Presumably I need to edit an attribute in the dconf editor for Mate's open-in-terminal command.