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

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