Re: /bin/sh vs. /bin/bash

[the lone gunman <lgunman@crh3019.urh.uiuc.edu>]

On Wed, Aug 26, 1998 at 08:46:38AM +0200, Torsten Hilbrich wrote:
> I recently installed an other shell than bash as /bin/sh (ash
> precisly) just to test the systems behaviour and noticed that some
> scripts stopped working correctly.  For example, /etc/init.d/rcS had
> problems executing some scripts (e.g., loading the keymap).  I changed
> it to be #!/bin/bash instead of #!/bin/sh.

This is perhaps my only gripe against Debian.  I too would like to
link /bin/sh to /bin/ash, but I ran into too many script problems, and
I don't want to change all of them to use /bin/bash.  A script that
calls /bin/sh should ONLY use "standard" /bin/sh functions, and not
the extra features presented by /bin/bash.

I've heard of folks getting faster boot times when they link /bin/sh
to /bin/ash instead of bash.

I think bash is nice and it's good to use its extra features, but for
simplicity's sake, start the script out as #!/bin/bash.

<shrug>