[indiana-discuss] Bad press

[Brandorr]

It looks like there are four questions:

1) /bin/sh - Whatever this is, it was to be backward compatible with a
huge number of shell scripts out there. We need to consider this
carefully before changing to an "alias" for either ksh or bash. (I am
not sure changing it is even desirable.)

2) Default system user shell - I vote for bash. It is the most
familiar, to the largest number of users. (Remember the goals of this
particular distro.)

3) Preferred systems programming shell/language - Indiana could
(unofficially) declare a scripting language of choice for the distro.
e.g. - /bin/sh, /bin/bash, /bin/ksh (93), or even Python/Ruby. (I hope
that it's Python or Ruby.. Probably Python, since IPS is written in
Python)

4) Default new user shell - My vote is bash. I know it best, and find
that it is now available on pretty much all of the major *nixes. If we
were to hold a popularity contest, I guarantee you that bash will win.
I also use things like the emacs compatibility mode for command line
navigation (Ctrl-a, ctrl-d, ctrl-e), and have history shortcuts, like
ctrl-r, in muscle memory. (Other people use the "vi" mode. I'm not
even sure that ksh93 gives the user that choice of navigation mode).

Personally, I don't really care that much about the interactive shell
choice, as I can always change it. (And I don't really see alot of
benefit in learning a new interactive shell. Basically this is a
familiarity thing. Whatever you are familiar with will be your
"favorite".)

It's #1 and #3 that deserve the most attention. I also think that
there are bigger fish to fry, so I won't be commenting further on this
thread..

-Brian

On 11/6/07, Lurie <yura at gmx.co.uk> wrote:
> > Didn't see anyone cheering about that except Mike and
> > some die hard
> > Linux proponents.
>
> Oh, great, so everyone who doesn't agree with you is either Mike or a die hard Linux proponent... I prefer bash (and I haven't used a Linux distro in more than 6-7 years), believe it or not, not everyone needs everything ksh93 has to offer, when I need multi-dim arrays, float point support etc.. I use a mainstream programming language for which I have proper IDE tools with refactorings, on-fly code checks, inspections and so on.
>
> > Faster, sleeker, cool tab completion, floating point
> > math, follows standards - no bashism,
>
> For interactivity purposes none of that matters to me, as for cool tab completion, I happen
> to disagree, my configured bash proves to be much more convenient (and yes, I've tried ksh93)
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_computer_shells
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>
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-- 
- Brian Gupta

http://opensolaris.org/os/project/nycosug/