[indiana-discuss] [docs-discuss] review request: user FAQ

[Tim Bray]

On Sep 16, 2007, at 10:42 AM, Shawn Walker wrote:

> Not any more than it does now. The people that created this problem
> are the idiots that put #!/bin/sh at the top of their script and
> assume that means bash, when it obviously isn't.

Well, "obviously" it is on a few distros whose adoption dwarfs that  
of Solaris.  There are lots of people who've spent years living in an  
environment where this is true.  Branding them as idiots is, um,  
unhelpful to promoting the adoption of Solaris.

Seems like there's two choices.  Make bash the default for new user  
accounts, and also /bin/sh, and a huge proportion of script-ware and  
learned behavior for people coming over from those other distros will  
Just Work.  Or, put in something else and you get to have an  
enjoyable conversation with all those people about why it's OK that  
the stuff that they're used to doesn't work any more because, you  
see, this other shell is better than what they're used to.  Except  
for, with a high proportion you won't, because they'll say "WTF? My  
shell scripts don't work?  I'm outta here."

There are some areas where Solaris is *clearly* better.    I'd like  
Indiana's pitch to be "Your knowledge still applies. Your existing  
stuff works.  Except for, here are some good things you couldn't do  
before."  -Tim