Re: history issue - bug?

[David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk>]

On Sun 14 Jan 2018 at 14:07:01 (+0100), Hans wrote:
> Hi folks, 
> 
> try this:
> 
> 1. login as normal user
> 
> 2. become root with "su -"

… which reads ~/.bash_history into what I call the command recall buffer.

> 3. delete history with "history -c"

… which deletes all the entries in the recall buffer, those just read
  in and those commands typed since logging in.

> 4. Check history, history is gone

Presumably you mean you just tried to recall a command and failed.
Make that command "ls -l ~/.bash_history" and you'll see the file
is still there.

> 5. logout from root by "CTL + D" or "exit"
> 
> 6. relogin as root with "su -"

… which reads ~/.bash_history.

> 7. Check history, voila, it appears again.

… as expected.

> What is wrong?

Distinguish between history list and history file.

To eliminate your history, you need to remove/empty the file and
also clear the list just before you logout.

Cheers,
David.