Policy Weekly Issue #4/1: Bash vs Bourne shell
Topic 1: Bash vs Bourne shell
STATE: APPROVAL
There has been a long discussion on debian-policy about which features may
be used from the default shell /bin/sh. Currently, several packages use
bash-specific features but specify "#!/bin/sh" as interpreter.
As some users want to use "ash" as "/bin/sh" to save disk and RAM space,
all scripts using "/bin/sh" may only use a common subset of some shells.
I present the following policy change for approval. If noone objects, this
will become official policy:
``The shell `/bin/sh' may be symbolic link to any POSIX compatible
shell. If a script uses non-POSIX features the appropriate shell
has to be specified in the first line of the script (i.e.
`#!/bin/bash') and the package has to depend on the package
providing the shell (unless the shell package is marked
`Essential').''
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- _,, Christian Schwarz
/ o \__ schwarz@monet.m.isar.de, schwarz@schwarz-online.com,
! ___; schwarz@debian.org, schwarz@mathematik.tu-muenchen.de
\ /
\\\______/ ! PGP-fp: 8F 61 EB 6D CF 23 CA D7 34 05 14 5C C8 DC 22 BA
\ / http://fatman.mathematik.tu-muenchen.de/~schwarz/
-.-.,---,-,-..---,-,-.,----.-.-
"DIE ENTE BLEIBT DRAUSSEN!"
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