It is hard to believe that Solaris 11 b79 only comes with mono color terminal. I have spoiled too long by Ubuntu. I simply could not live without colorful indication when I typed "ls". Here is a few steps to make colorful Gnome terminal.
1. Install coreutils from http://www.sunfreeware.com/.
The easiest way is to install pkg-get first and then type "pkg-get install coreutils-6.4" as root.
2. Add " alias ls='/usr/local/bin/ls --color=auto' " into $HOME/.bashrc
In case that there is no .bashrc at your home, here is an example.
3. Open a new Gnome terminal and type "ls". This is what you would expect. It is more fun with a bit of colors, isn't it?
You went through too much effort: GNU coreutils are already installed.
$ /usr/gnu/bin/ls --color
$ pkginfo -l SUNWgnu-coreutils
PKGINST: SUNWgnu-coreutils
NAME: coreutils - GNU core utilities
CATEGORY: system
ARCH: sparc
VERSION: 11.11.0,REV=2007.10.19.20.42
BASEDIR: /
VENDOR: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
DESC: GNU core utilities (6.7)
PSTAMP: sfwnv20071019204326
INSTDATE: Nov 19 2007 17:22
HOTLINE: Please contact your local service provider
STATUS: completely installed
FILES: 203 installed pathnames
11 shared pathnames
11 directories
96 executables
11029 blocks used (approx)
Posted by Mike Gerdts on December 25, 2007 at 01:42 AM EST #
Please do not enable colour 'ls' in Solaris; it's so damn annoying. Colour prompts ("tao@solaris") maybe, but not 'ls'.
What the heck does blue or green or red or cyan text mean? File, directory, link? Enable 'ls -F' if you're going to set up any aliases, but not colour (at least in the default set up). Personally it's the first thing I disable in a Linux environment (right after the vi -> vim aliases, if I want VIM, I'll type in 'vim' at the prompt).
Posted by David Magda on December 25, 2007 at 03:28 PM EST #
I'd like to express the exact opposite opinion to David Magda. For me, the most time consuming and frustrating aspect of Solaris is having to hunt around for those lovely friendly GNU userland niceties that I expect to find on any decent Linux. Yes, I always prefer vim (Vi IMproved) to vi, and yes I like colorful "ls" listings. It seems you've got the die-hard masochist sysadmin types (David?) versus the agile quick-n-easy types (me). Would be nice if there was a simple command to set it up as I like it, just like you can save your car seat settings in a Lexus or BMW.
Posted by Kevin Hutchinson on December 31, 2007 at 08:59 PM EST #
I agree with Kevin it is frustrating to work on Solaris with no color of any kind. Life demands color. Plus if the directories are colored from files, also the startup files colored red. Looks so nice and easy.
Posted by Jasmeet Dhiman on October 24, 2009 at 08:21 AM EST #