It would be very nice if zsh could be used as /bin/sh.  Several other
shells offer this capability, and I'd like to see zsh added to the list.

Hi Brian,

I am not sure to what list you are referring to as /bin/sh
is not using the normal /etc/alternatives system -- Can
you provide more info, please?


Richard

There isn't a list per se; I was using that term metaphorically.  dash,
posh, ksh, mksh, and pdksh all have support for diverting /bin/sh to
their respective shells.  I'd like zsh to add that support.

Obviously, the best solution is to make all the shells use the
alternatives mechanism, but I think that may be impossible since /bin/sh
is so essential to the system that dpkg (which provides
update-alternatives) may not be able to be installed unless there is a
working /bin/sh.  Major props if you can get it to work.

What kind of support are you looking for? Calling zsh as sh will put
it into compatible mode, so bending the symlink is no problem.

That is something for debian-devel@ldo, not for us :p

Wanna write a proposal?


Richard

I want the zsh package to ask me if it should divert /bin/sh, like the
other shells do.  In other words, I want zsh to be supported as
/bin/sh; if there is a bug with /bin/sh compatibility, that that bug
will be taken seriously.

I may at some point.  I suspect it will be technically difficult,
though.

During my bug triage, I have installed pretty much all shells I could
find. None of them asked me if I wanted to bend /bin/sh to them.

What level of questions did you set dpkg to ask you?


Richard

Okay, I just checked, and dash, posh, and mksh all ask.  pdksh and ksh
don't seem to ask like I thought they did.  I would like zsh to ask.

Low.  Try dpkg-reconfigure, which will ask every question, regardless of
priority.

On Thu, Jan 1, 2009 at 22:56, brian m. carlson <sandals@crustytoothpaste.ath.cx> wrote:

Clint, what is your take on this? Do we want to ask this question with
a low priority? I don't know how I feel about touching something as
important as this manually.

Yah, I know. I just wanted to know which level you use. Thanks,
though :)


Richard

In the past, there was at least one incompatibility (that could have
been worked around with a shell function).  I don't know how suitable
zsh is as a Debian /bin/sh right now, and I'm not sure we want to
support that (the only compelling benefit I could see is having zsh
be the only shell on your system, which is currently impossible anyway).

Brian, are you using zsh as /bin/sh already, with a manual symlink change?
If so, have you run into any problems?

If we do want to do this, it will reintroduce a dependency on debconf
(which is not a very big deal).

That's why I filed it as a wishlist bug.  If there are known
incompatibilities, you might want to block this bug with the appropriate
bug numbers.

No, I'm not.  I understand that grml (a live CD distribution based on
Debian) set zsh as /bin/sh for some time, and did find a few bugs.  See
<http://grml.org/faq/#zsh_binsh>.  Mac OS X used to do it as well.

I just performed the symlink change and I'll let you know what does and
doesn't work.  I'll certainly file wishlist bugs if I encounter any
problems.

you need to fix lots of stuff that breaks, especially during package
installation.


The dash initiative will have made this situation a lot better, but I did not
try, since then. Call me a burnt child ;)


Richard

PS: I should have mentioned that in my first mail, sorry..

Anything I can remember has since been fixed, except for "jobs -p", which
may never be.  Admittedly that one shouldn't ever matter.

Great.  Also, why?

If you run into problems, try it with dash, as well.

If if works then, file against Zsh with prio normal.
If it does _not_ work after that, file against the package containing the
script. If it's a preinstall etc script, I think you need to file as grave, but
I could be wrong on that.


RIchard