Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Sun, 27 Jan 2002 01:17:08 +0000
From:      Matt H <matt@proweb.co.uk>
To:        freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: shells confusion
Message-ID:  <20020127011708.5d76e328.matt@proweb.co.uk>
In-Reply-To: <4sg04s645p.04s@localhost.localdomain>
References:  <947431@toto.iv> <5.1.0.14.0.20020126153501.04980750@mail.enterit.com> <4sg04s645p.04s@localhost.localdomain>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On 26 Jan 2002 16:14:42 -0800
"swear@blarg.net" <swear@blarg.net> wrote:

> Jim Conner <jconner@enterit.com> writes:
> 
> > sh is the right way to go.  In my last email I suggested ksh and I hold
> > true to that.  Fortunately, if you know how to sh script, you know how
> > to basicly ksh script.  I still suggest scripting in ksh, however. :)

another factor to consider is how much software is dynamically loaded with the shell

shells compiled against readline pay a penalty in startup times

I'll quote from the plan9 mailing list where the dubious merits of the GNU readline library have recently been discussed :

> * If [you use] dynamic linked libraries, you have taken the first step
>   on the slippery slope to the land of gratuitious complexity,
>   where even a simple "hello, world" C program can execute
>   100000 [userland] instructions before it actually prints anything.
>   (No, I'm not kidding.)  For some reason, people seem to think
>   adding features in dynamic libraries is "free".

for quick startup, forking one should try a lean shell

the file sizes of the executables don;t gove much away but :

-r-xr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  799464 Nov 17 20:30 /usr/local/bin/bash
-r-xr-xr-x  2 root  wheel  636076 Sep 18 18:25 /bin/tcsh
-r-xr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  448532 Sep 18 18:25 /bin/sh
-r-xr-xr-x  1 root  wheel   81608 Dec  5 13:40 /usr/local/bin/rc

that last one is an implementation of plan9's rc shell in unix

rc is worth a look (/usr/ports/shells/rc) , as it will be OS agnostic for it's supported platforms


To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message




Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20020127011708.5d76e328.matt>