Re: LUG: bash support with realm *nix - Tue, 29 Jun 2010 12:21:04 -0400

Subject : Re: LUG: bash support with realm *nix

From : Edward Anderson <nilbus@gmail.[redacted]>

Date : Tue, 29 Jun 2010 12:21:04 -0400

I talked to Jack Neely about this before, and like you said, he
brought up the fact that many current scripts fail in bash and need to
be ported. This long tedious process is something they're not
interested in doing, one because the time it would cost outweighs the
benefits it would bring them, and porting everything is a manual
process where lots of mistakes could creep in. There are definitely no
automatic tests that could ensure that everything still works.

Given that, if it's really important enough to us, we could volunteer
to perform that long and arduous task or porting everything and
testing it, making sure it's backward compatible.

What do you think? Is it worth it?

Edward

On Jun 29, 2010, at 11:34 AM, Gary Gatling <gsgatlin@ncsu.[redacted]> wrote:

>
> Hello,
>
> Our Realm Linux environment here at NCSU has had tcsh be the default
> shell users get for a long time. (Forver probably) MIT was using
> cshell for users in project athena. And since our system was based
> off of athena, this made sense back in the day.
>
> These days it seems bash is the most popular shell with Linux
> distros. Realm Linux actually has support built in for Unity users
> who have their default shell set to bash. But currently there isn't
> a way for users to change their default shell. In addition, many
> lockers do not yet support being "added" under bash. (Most all
> engineering lockers are fixed for bash but others need fixing...)
>
> If there were a sysnews tool to allow users to change their shell,
> sort of like how users can adjust their quota, would anyone on this
> list be interested in seeing that and switchimg from tcsh to bash? A
> list of users will help persuade the powers that be that work can
> proceed on this. I have also started seraching our remedy call
> tracking system but I suspect many more people might request it if
> it were to be officially supported by the university.
>
> The idea is that we would still allow users to use tcsh if they are
> happy. But switch to making bash the default for new accounts once
> all the bugs have been worked out. Users in the college of
> engineering who log into UNIX (SPARC Solaris 10 via remote.eos.ncsu.edu
> ) would also be able to use bash since I just fixed that problem.
>
> Anyone have any thoughts on this?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Gary Gatling | ITECS Systems
> ITECS, BOX 7901 | Operations and Systems Analyst
> NCSU, Raleigh, NC | Email: gsgatlin@ncsu.[redacted]
> 27695-7901 | Phone: (XXX) 513-4572 (5C Page Hall)

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