At IU, what is ezreset, and how can I use it to reset my accounts to their default settings?
On this page:
About ezreset
On the new Indiana University web servers Webserve and
Mercury, the ezreset command launches a script
that backs up copies of your configuration files and replaces them
with the versions that are included with new accounts. These
configuration files control the appearance and behavior of programs
such as Emacs, as well as the general environment of your
account. If problems arise with these files as a result of migrating to
the new servers, you can use ezreset to replace them with
working copies.
Using ezreset on Webserve
Note: For information about the recent migration to Webserve, see About the IU central web server migration or the IU Webmaster's Migration Information page.
On Webserve, some login files will prevent you from running
Unix commands. If you receive a "Command not found" error
after entering a common command like ls or
cd, use ezreset to restore the default
settings.
Some Webserve users may also see an error when logging in:
stty: invalid argument 'new' Try 'stty --help' for more information
The ezreset command will also correct this error.
To run ezreset on Webserve:
- Log into your Webserve account using SSH. For detailed
instructions, see the IU Webmaster's Connecting
to Webserve page.
- At the Unix prompt, enter: /usr/local/bin/ezreset
Once you run this utility, you will be able to use SSH on Webserve without receiving the error messages listed above.
Using ezreset on Mercury
To run ezreset on Mercury:
- At the Unix prompt, enter: ezreset
- You will see the following message: Ezreset will reset your .login, .profile and other config files back to the original newuser configuration. Your files will be saved as .filename.mmddyy. Continue (y/n)?
- To replace these files with the default versions, press
y.
- You will see: Your account has been reset.
Also see:
- In Pine, how can I update or refresh my .pinerc configuration file?
- In Unix, what are some common dot files?
Last modified on June 23, 2008.






