PHAROS DATA ARK · 2026-10-29-01024f5b59
Shell welcome and administration guide
Every new interactive Bash terminal gets a short Data Ark orientation: the live source checkout, content drive, configuration file, GitHub repository, installed tools and local documentation. It is intended to give someone a starting point without turning each login into a tutorial.
ark-help is available from any directory. It prints guidance; it does not run maintenance commands, change services, access the network or inspect private configuration.
| Command | Guidance |
| --- | --- |
| ark-help | Places to know, available tools and useful administration tasks |
| ark-help status | Read-only health, logs, disk, memory and network checks |
| ark-help library | Shared library management, editions, sources and privacy |
| ark-help develop | Repository layout, editors, Python environment, tests, Git and deployment |
| ark-help recovery | Configuration backups, network access and recovery limits |
| ark-help basics | Optional shell navigation and command help |
The welcome identifies this as the live appliance, recommends the admin account for routine source work and explains when sudo is appropriate. Graphical tools are identified as requiring a desktop. Codex requires the user's own sign-in and internet; an installed CLI is not an offline model. IntelliJ's memory limitations remain documented.
Implementation and reproduction
Source is tools/ark_help.py; installer is deploy/install_shell_welcome.py, both in /opt/dataark and the GitHub repository.
sudo /usr/bin/python3 /opt/dataark/deploy/install_shell_welcome.py
The installer copies the helper to /usr/local/bin/ark-help, installs /etc/profile.d/dataark-welcome.sh, and adds one marked source block to /etc/bash.bashrc. The first original bashrc is backed up to /etc/bash.bashrc.before-dataark-welcome. Reinstallation replaces the marked block and does not duplicate it. Existing individual bashrc files, authentication, permissions and service access remain unchanged. New shells see the welcome; an already open terminal can run ark-help immediately.
The hook requires an interactive shell and terminal output. An unexported per-shell guard prevents duplicate printing when a login shell reads both system bashrc and profile.d. No banner is added to non-interactive commands, SCP, SFTP or scripts. The pre-existing Wi-Fi startup scripts may still emit their own notices; this change does not alter them. Interactive login and non-login Bash, a non-interactive login shell, and repeat installation were checked on the Ark. Different shell startup paths and a fresh web-terminal login have not been separately acceptance-tested.
The configuration capture utility now includes the system bashrc, profile hook and installed helper. To disable the welcome, remove the marked block from /etc/bash.bashrc and remove /etc/profile.d/dataark-welcome.sh; ark-help can remain installed. To change wording, edit the repository source and rerun the installer. Ordinary web deployment alone does not install shell changes.