Relying on /bin/sh compatibility ? ... Re: OpenJDK Build error on Ubuntu 8.04

[David Herron]

Andrew Haley wrote:
> Martin Buchholz wrote:
>   
>> On Tue, Jun 3, 2008 at 1:22 AM, Andrew Haley <aph at redhat.com> wrote:
>>     
>>> But if one of our scripts actually needs bash (not just sh) why not use
>>> #!/bin/bash ?
>>>       
>> sh is a horrible programming language whose primary virtue is
>> portability -- every Unix system since the dark ages has it.
>> Much of that is lost when replacing #!/bin/sh with #!/bin/bash.
>> Might as well upgrade to a "real" programming language.
>>     
>
> Sure, but this bug seems to suggest that we *already* rely on
> /bin/bash, but we pretend not to by assuming that /bin/sh runs
> bash.  If we rely on bash, let's be straight about it.
>
> Andrew.
>   


er..  there's a little more to it than that, methinks.

First, because it's /bin/sh that's portable (not /bin/bash) I believe 
the shell scripts should be written for compatibility with /bin/sh

Second, it's an open question whether dash or bash does a better job of 
implementing /bin/sh and I have no clue as to which does the better job.

I think it's either a) fix the script in question or b) fix dash.

<tongue-in-cheek> BTW does anybody know where to get a SHCK?  (/bin/sh 
Compatibility Kit)  How can we be sure any /bin/sh interpreter is 
actually compatible with /bin/sh ??  </tongue-in-cheek>

- David Herron



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