Re: /bin/sh - /bin/bash
On Sep 9, Vincent Renardias wrote
>
>On Tue, 9 Sep 1997, Richard Kilgore wrote:
>
>> Last I checked, Netscape fails to spawn external programs when
>> /bin/sh is set as a link to /bin/bash. I'm not sure whether this
>> is a bug in /bin/bash or documented incompatibility, but it's a
>> pain either way.
>
>People who prefer ash to bash because they are low on memory don't even
>try to run X, and even less Netscape. (Imagine X11+Netscape in 6 MB ? ;)
>
>Not to mention that it's a bug in Netscape, _not_ in bash nor ash.
I realize that it is probably Netscape doing something a little
strange, but it works fine with ash, and the point is simply that
if someone cares strongly enough about Netscape (and I do) to
want it to work, then they should be able to set /bin/sh as a
link to /bin/ash without having the rest of the Debian system
completely croak.
I would tell the Netscape folks to fix their code that spawns
external programs if I knew how to actually get through to them,
but _both_ Netscape _and_ those who write scripts/programs for
the Debian dist who assume that /bin/sh is synonymous with
/bin/bash are writing short-sighted, poorly portable stuff. It's
an easy mistake to have made, but it's also a correctable one.
--
Richard Kilgore | rkilgore@ece.utexas.edu
Electrical & Computer Engineering | http://lore.ece.utexas.edu/~rkilgore/
The University of Texas at Austin | (512) 471-8011
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