Re: Several reasons why debian should not use bash for /bin/sh
Hi,
>>"Chris" == Chris Ulrich <cdulrich@ucdavis.edu> writes:
Chris> The man page of pdksh indicates that pdksh is (or can be with
Chris> a command line flag or environment variable or compile time flag)
Chris> compatible with the POSIX shell. It further lists the differences
Chris> between the POSIX shell mode and the normal ksh mode.
If pdksh designed to be POSIX compatible, I see no reason why
it would not be a candidate for a /bin/sh link.
Chris> This leads me to believe that using pdksh gets us the best of
Chris> all worlds: it is posix compliant, it is small and fast, and it
Chris> will show where scripts are using features specific to bash. If
Chris> we find instances where it is not POSIX compliant, it would be
Chris> appropriate to file bug reports, just as I am sure bug reports
Chris> are filed if there are instances of non-compliances found in
Chris> bash.
That sounds reasonable.
Chris> I'm not suggesting that bash be gotten rid of -- it is far too
Chris> useful an interactive shell for people who don't like getting
Chris> confused between delete and backspace or who wonder why the
Chris> arrow keys don't work.
I am glad we agree.
Chris> I am suggesting that bash, which uses twice as much memory as
Chris> pdksh, which is considerably slower than, and which depends on
Chris> many more libraries than pdksh, is not as good a choice for
Chris> /bin/sh as pdksh. Perhaps ash is a better choice still, but
Chris> it may lack some posix features necessary to achieve the
Chris> strictest level of posix compliance. chris
Except for one thing. Bash is already present on the boot
floppies and on the base system. Bash is labeled essential, and
people have depended on that to create /bin/bash scripts. Due to
space constraints, I would not advocate putting a *second* full
featured command interpreter on the base system; and also for users
with a small root partition.
*Optionally*, sure, we can recommend pdksh as a leaner,
meaner, yet fully POSIX compatible /bin/sh replacement.
--
"It follows that any commander in chief who undertakes to carry out a
plan which he considers defective is at fault; he must put forth his
reasons, insist of the plan being changed, and finally tender his
resignation rather than be the instrument of his army's downfall."
Napoleon, "Military Maxims and Thought"
Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@acm.org> <http://www.datasync.com/%7Esrivasta/>
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