i installed this: [ebuild R ] sys-process/vixie-cron-4.1-r4 -debug +pam (-selinux) 0 kB then i could do crontab -e just fine through nano. Then I installed this: [ebuild R ] app-shells/tcsh-6.12-r3 -cjk +perl 0 kB and modified the shell type for root to /bin/tcsh and then i installed this: [ebuild R ] app-editors/vim-6.3.068 -acl -bash-completion -cscope -debug +gpm -minimal +ncurses +nls +perl +python -ruby (-selinux) +vim-with-x 0 kB i also modified /etc/rc.conf: # Set EDITOR to your preferred editor. #EDITOR="/bin/nano" EDITOR="/usr/bin/vim" #EDITOR="/usr/bin/emacs" ..i rebooted. and when i do crontab -e i get this error: /root# crontab -e /bin/sh: line 1: /bin/vi: No such file or directory crontab: "/bin/vi" exited with status 127 ..i've done the same thing on multiple other x86 gentoo installs and i've never had this error. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: see above Actual Results: crontab -e complains that /bin/vi is not found Expected Results: start up vi with my crontab there are several trivial fixes: ln -s /usr/bin/vi /bin/vi or, setenv EDITOR /usr/bin/vi if i start bash from inside of tcsh i also have this problem unless i do env-update && source /etc/profile.
can't reproduce here
basically you need to set EDITOR. /bin/vi is the default editor if EDITOR is not set. This is done automatically for bash because of /etc/profile.