Install oh-my-zsh on openwrt/lede-project

oh-my-zsh on openwrt or lede-project.md

Install oh-my-zsh on OpenWrt

Install Requirements Packages

opkg update && opkg install ca-certificates zsh curl git-http

Install oh-my-zsh

sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

Set zsh as default (thanks to @mlouielu)

which zsh && sed -i -- 's:/bin/ash:'`which zsh`':g' /etc/passwd

Prevent User Lockout

To prevent lock-outs after accidentially removing zsh(as explained in the wiki) you can add a check for zsh and fallback to ash in /etc/rc.local (thanks to @fox34):

# Revert root shell to ash if zsh is not available
if grep -q '^root:.*:/usr/bin/zsh$' /etc/passwd && [ ! -x /usr/bin/zsh ]; then
    # zsh is root shell, but zsh was not found or not executable: revert to default ash
    [ -x /usr/bin/logger ] && /usr/bin/logger -s "Reverting root shell to ash, as zsh was not found on the system"
    sed -i -- 's:/usr/bin/zsh:/bin/ash:g' /etc/passwd
fi

@reancool. Delete /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow then reboot the router. It will recreate those files from scratch and you will be able to ssh again.

How do you delete these files if you can't connect with ssh?

@reancool. Delete /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow then reboot the router. It will recreate those files from scratch and you will be able to ssh again.

How do you delete these files if you can't connect with ssh?

I used Telnet

I just get connection refused if I try telnet. I ended up taking a backup, editing /etc/passwd to put ash back as shell, then restored from that.
I don't quite understand how changing the shell in /etc/passwd, then deleting /etc/passwd, gets it to use zsh. The only place the choice of zsh is stored is in /etc/passwd. Or does the OS make a backup of it?

Just in case you are locked out by the wrong ZSH path and need a way to execute commands: try Network > Firewall > Custom Rules. These commands get executed right away.

To make oh-my-zsh persistent after system upgrades, there are several options. I suggest to remove unneeded plugins and themes, since they will increase config (backup) size by a few MB.

Option A: Adding /root to backup file list

Go to LuCI -> System -> Backup/Flash Firmware -> Tab "Configuration" -> Add /root

Option B: Install oh-my-zsh to /etc/zsh and keep user files there

Step 1: Install or move oh-my-zsh to /etc/zsh

Install oh-my-zsh into /etc/zsh upon initial setup (see instructions). If you already installed oh-my-zsh into /root/, move it from there:

mkdir /etc/zsh
mv /root/.oh-my-zsh /etc/zsh/oh-my-zsh
sed -i -- 's:/root/.oh-my-zsh:/etc/zsh/oh-my-zsh:g' /root/.zshrc

Step 2: Add /etc/zsh to backup files

Go to LuCI -> System -> Backup/Flash Firmware -> Tab "Configuration" -> Add /etc/zsh

Step 3: Move and symlink zsh-related user files to /etc/zsh to keep them after sysupgrades

# Temporarily disable history file modification
HISTFILE=/dev/null

# Symlinking every file is necessary, since zsh on OpenWrt does not read files in /etc/zsh by default
for f in zshenv zprofile zshrc zlogin zlogout zsh_history; do
    [ -f /root/.$f ] && [ ! -f /etc/zsh/$f ] && mv /root/.$f /etc/zsh/$f
    [ -f /etc/zsh/$f ] && ln -s /etc/zsh/$f /root/.$f
done

# check result: root directory should not contain any zsh-related files (except for zcompdump), only symlinks
ls -la /root

Login in a separate shell (for security reasons) to check functionality.

Step 4: Check and restore symlinks on reboot

Append the following commands in /etc/rc.local (before exit 0) to restore the symlinks after every reboot, if they are missing:

if [ -d /etc/zsh ]; then
    
    # Restore oh-my-zsh functionality after sysupgrades
    [ -x /usr/bin/logger ] && /usr/bin/logger -s "Checking and restoring oh-my-zsh"
    
    # Always symlink history file, even if it did not exist
    [ ! -f /etc/zsh/zsh_history ] && touch /etc/zsh/zsh_history
    for f in zshenv zprofile zshrc zlogin zlogout zsh_history; do
        [ -r /etc/zsh/$f ] && [ ! -r /root/.$f ] && ln -s /etc/zsh/$f /root/.$f
    done
fi

Prevent lock outs due to a missing zsh installation

To prevent lock-outs after accidentially removing zsh (as explained in the wiki), you can add a check for zsh and fallback to ash in /etc/rc.local:

# Revert root shell to ash if zsh is not available
if grep -q '^root:.*:/usr/bin/zsh$' /etc/passwd && [ ! -x /usr/bin/zsh ]; then
    # zsh is root shell, but zsh was not found or not executable: revert to default ash
    [ -x /usr/bin/logger ] && /usr/bin/logger -s "Reverting root shell to ash, as zsh was not found on the system"
    sed -i -- 's:/usr/bin/zsh:/bin/ash:g' /etc/passwd
fi

Sorry i've neglected this gist.
i've updated the gist and added the lock outs prevention from @fox34 post. thanks!

Cool, works also under OpenWrt 18.06.2
this worked for me:
->
opkg update && opkg install ca-certificates zsh curl git-http
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh/master/tools/install.sh)"
sed -i -- 's:/bin/ash:/usr/bin/zsh:g' /etc/passwd
logged out, and in again, and Oh-My-ZSH was working ------------------>Thanks

which zsh /usr/bin/zsh i edit /etc/passwd. change ash's path to zsh's path. i cannot ssh login anymore. "Permission denied, please try again." i can web login.

just add
/usr/bin/zsh
to /etc/shells

your /etc/shells would be like:

$ cat /etc/shells
/bin/ash
/bin/bash
/bin/rbash
/usr/bin/zsh