Re: what options do we have was Re: POSIX shell; bash ash pdksh & /bin/sh
On Thu, Jul 30, 1998 at 01:33:00PM -0400, Will Lowe wrote:
> > have not packaged yet? A slim /bin/sh would be nice. I currently use
> > ash and am happy with the change. cron scripts and boot time seems
> > better.
>
> I'll agree that it's good to have a POSIX-compliant shell around for the
> sake of compatibility, but who says we can't use ash as /bin/sh and just
> keep bash around for compatibility? Does the posix standard state that
> the posix-compliant shell must be accessable via /bin/sh? It'd be nice if
> the standard let you call the shell /bin/posixsh or something so that if
> you absolutely needed posix features for whatever script you were writing
> you could use #!/bin/posixsh ...
The sense I get is that POSIX probbaly does require /bin/sh to be
the shell as it defines, I mean..it defines so many other things...
and it defines what the POSIX compatible shell is...it would be rather
non-portable if everyone could just name it anything.
Mind you...I do not have a copy of the POSIX standard...nor have I read it
m..nor would I know wher eto get it...but...it makes sense that it has to be
and that is the sense I get from the peopl ewho do know it better.
> Alternatively, can we add posixisms to ash? Or talk the upstream people
> into it?
I have been thinking about it...
maybe it would be better to take a very close to POSIX shell...and
make it very very STRICT POSIX with no extensions...specifically made to
break anything that uses non-POSIX features.
I wouldn't put such a shell as the main shell of a production machine
or even make it the default shell...but...it would be helpful for
a) people who just want a simple, fast and minimal /bin/sh for scripts
...and b) those who want to test and make sure scripts using /bin/sh
are POSIX compatible.
Of course...I don't know how feasable this is (as I said above...I don't
have a copy of the standard and I am not too terribly well versed in
sh anyway....)
just my $0.019 (one of the pennies has a scratch in it)
-Steve
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