Linux - Installing Fish Shell on Ubuntu

Installation

Add the fish repository to your system and install it :

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:fish-shell/release-3 && sudo apt update ; sudo apt install fish

Now list the installed shells and make sure that fish is listed :

tiago@linux-desktop:~$ cat /etc/shells
# /etc/shells: valid login shells
/bin/sh
/bin/bash
/usr/bin/bash
/bin/rbash
/usr/bin/rbash
/usr/bin/sh
/bin/dash
/usr/bin/dash
/usr/bin/fish

Issue the following command to change you shell to fish :

tiago@linux-desktop:~$ sudo chsh -s /usr/bin/fish

chsh did not work on my linux distro and I had to add /usr/bin/fish as the last line in my .bashrc file.

Configuration

To store configuration write it to a file called ~/.config/fish/config.fish.

Let's create a file and change how fish display git information.

if status is-interactive
    # Commands to run in interactive sessions can go here
    # GIT CUSTOM CONFIG -------------------------------
    set -g __fish_git_prompt_use_informative_chars true
    set -g __fish_git_prompt_showcolorhints true
    set -g __fish_git_prompt_showupstream informative
end