Confirmado na nova instalação do Ubuntu 12.10 i686, com conta de usuário inicial.
guinan@x100e:~$ cat /etc/os-release NAME="Ubuntu" VERSION="12.10, Quantal Quetzal" ID=ubuntu ID_LIKE=debian PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu quantal (12.10)" VERSION_ID="12.10" guinan@x100e:~$ arch i686 guinan@x100e:~$ ls -l .bash_history -rw------- 1 root root 302 Mar 12 13:19 .bash_history guinan@x100e:~$ less .bash_history .bash_history: Permission denied guinan@x100e:~$ rm .bash_history rm: remove write-protected regular file '.bash_history'? y $ xterm [ $ echo Hi there. ] [ $ exit ] guinan@x100e:~$ ls -l .bash_history -rw------- 1 guinan guinan 15 Mar 13 13:48 .bash_history guinan@x100e:~$ cat .bash_history echo Hi there.