Re: POSIX shell; bash ash pdksh & /bin/sh
On 4 Aug 1998, Manoj Srivastava wrote:
> Hi,
> >>"Marcus" == Marcus Brinkmann <Marcus.Brinkmann@ruhr-uni-bochum.de> writes:
>
> Marcus> I think if you request bash as your shell, you should only do
> Marcus> it when you use bash features that are non-posix. And then,
> Marcus> yes, I think you should be aware of it and only do it when it
> Marcus> is really necessary.
>
> Why? Why should I only do it if only necesary? Why am I free
> to choose lesstif or slang or newt or whiptail, but when it comes to
> a shell, the proprietary police shall jump on me?
>
> Give me one technical reason for asking me to do so.
>
> Marcus> One shouldn't just put #!/bin/bash at the top of a script
> Marcus> without thinking.
>
> Why ot? Why can I choose between C and C++ and java, and not
> have the freedom to choose bash?
>
Of course.
I personally do not advocate any attempt to make bash non-essential.
But, I definitely would advocate an effort to make it possible to use
another shell as #!/bin/sh. The reason I believe this to be a good thing
is that (apparently) many other shells are faster than bash, and that
using a faster shell would significantly speed rc?.,d scripts and cron
scripts, which, on a slower machine, would pleasantly improve system
start-up time. So, to summarise, I suggest:
1) bash remains essential. All scripts which begin '#!/bin/bash' continue
to function as expected.
2) However, we consider moving the /bin/sh link to the update-alternatives
mechanism, or similar. This means that someone has to try running with
/bin/sh as (for example) ash or pdksh, and file bugs against any packages
which provide scripts which turn out to rely on bash semantics, but do not
have #!/bin/bash lines. At the package maintainer's option, then, they
either modify their scripts to explicitly invoke bash, or they stop using
any bashisms.
3) As a veru much less important point, people keep their eyes out for
scripts which needlessly invoke /bin/bash when they don't actually uyse
bashisms.
(Apologies for typing errors - this is a slow link, and I can't be
bothered to keep moving the cursor around...)
Jules
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