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266 lines
10 KiB
Markdown
266 lines
10 KiB
Markdown
# Portability talk
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The script programming language of BASH is based on the Bourne Shell
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syntax, with some extensions and derivations.
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If scripts need to be portable, some of the BASH-specific syntax
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elements should be avoided. Others should be avoided for all scripts,
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e.g. if there is a corresponding POSIX(r)-compatible syntax (see
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[obsolete](/scripting/obsolete.md)).
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Some syntax elements have a BASH-specific, and a portable[^1]) pendant.
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In these cases the portable syntax should be preferred.
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<table>
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<thead>
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<tr class="header">
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<th style="text-align: center;">construct</th>
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<th style="text-align: center;">portable equivalent</th>
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<th style="text-align: center;">Description</th>
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<th style="text-align: center;">Portability</th>
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</tr>
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</thead>
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<tbody>
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<tr class="odd">
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<td style="text-align: center;"><code>source\ FILE</code></td>
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<td style="text-align: center;"><code>. FILE</code></td>
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<td style="text-align: center;">include a script file</td>
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<td style="text-align: center;">Bourne shell (bash, ksh, POSIX(r), zsh,
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...)</td>
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</tr>
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<tr class="even">
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<td style="text-align: center;"><code>declare</code>\ keyword</td>
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<td style="text-align: center;"><code>typeset</code> keyword</td>
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<td style="text-align: center;">define local variables (or variables
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with special attributes)</td>
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<td style="text-align: center;">ksh, zsh, ..., <strong>not
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POSIX!</strong></td>
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</tr>
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<tr class="odd">
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<td
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style="text-align: center;"><code>command\ <<<\ WORD</code></td>
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<td
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style="text-align: center;"><code>command <<MARKER WORD MARKER</code></td>
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<td style="text-align: center;">a here-string, a special form of the
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here-document, avoid it in portable scripts!</td>
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<td style="text-align: center;">POSIX(r)</td>
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</tr>
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<tr class="even">
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<td style="text-align: center;"><code>export VAR=VALUE</code></td>
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<td style="text-align: center;"><code>VAR=VALUE export VAR</code></td>
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<td style="text-align: center;">Though POSIX(r) allows it, some shells
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don't want the assignment and the exporting in one command</td>
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<td style="text-align: center;">POSIX(r), zsh, ksh, ...</td>
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</tr>
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<tr class="odd">
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<td style="text-align: center;"><code>(( MATH ))</code></td>
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<td style="text-align: center;"><code>: $(( MATH ))</code></td>
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<td style="text-align: center;">POSIX(r) does't define an arithmetic
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compund command, many shells don't know it. Using the pseudo-command
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<code>:</code> and the arithmetic expansion <code>$(( ))</code> is a
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kind of workaround here. <strong>Attention:</strong> Not all shell
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support assignment like <code>$(( a = 1 + 1 ))</code>! Also see below
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for a probably more portable solution.</td>
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<td style="text-align: center;">all POSIX(r) compatible shells</td>
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</tr>
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<tr class="even">
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<td style="text-align: center;"><code>[[\ EXPRESSION\ ]]</code></td>
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<td style="text-align: center;"><code>[ EXPRESSION ]</code><br />
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or<br />
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<code>test EXPRESSION</code></td>
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<td style="text-align: center;">The Bashish test keyword is reserved by
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POSIX(r), but not defined. Use the old fashioned way with the
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<code>test</code> command. See <a href="/commands/classictest.md">the
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classic test command</a></td>
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<td style="text-align: center;">POSIX(r) and others</td>
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</tr>
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<tr class="odd">
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<td
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style="text-align: center;"><code>COMMAND\ <\ <(\ ...INPUTCOMMANDS...\ )</code></td>
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<td
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style="text-align: center;"><code>INPUTCOMMANDS\ >\ TEMPFILE COMMAND\ <\ TEMPFILE</code></td>
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<td style="text-align: center;">Process substitution (here used with
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redirection); use the old fashioned way (tempfiles)</td>
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<td style="text-align: center;">POSIX(r) and others</td>
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</tr>
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<tr class="even">
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<td style="text-align: center;"><code>((echo X);(echo Y))</code></td>
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<td style="text-align: center;"><code>( (echo X); (echo Y) )</code></td>
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<td style="text-align: center;">Nested subshells (separate the inner
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<code>()</code> from the outer <code>()</code> by spaces, to not confuse
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the shell regarding arithmetic control operators)</td>
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<td style="text-align: center;">POSIX(r) and others</td>
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</tr>
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</tbody>
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</table>
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## Portability rationale
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Here is some assorted portability information. Take it as a small guide
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to make your scripts a bit more portable. It's not complete (it never
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will be!) and it's not very detailed (e.g. you won't find information
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about how which shell technically forks off which subshell). It's just
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an assorted small set of portability guidelines. *-Thebonsai*
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FIXME UNIX shell gurus out there, please be patient with a newbie like
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me and give comments and hints instead of flames.
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### Environment (exported) variables
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When a new value is assigned to an **existing environment variable**,
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there are two possibilities:
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The *new value* is seen by subsequent programs
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- without any special action (e.g. Bash)
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- only after an explicit export with `export VARIABLE` (e.g. Sun's
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`/bin/sh`)
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Since an extra `export` doesn't hurt, the safest and most portable way
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is to always (re-)export a changed variable if you want it to be seen by
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subsequent processes.
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### Arithmetics
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Bash has a special compound command to do arithmetic without expansion.
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However, POSIX has no such command. In the table at the top, there's the
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`: $((MATH))` construct mentioned as possible alternative. Regarding the
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exit code, a 100% equivalent construct would be:
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# Bash (or others) compound command
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if ((MATH)); then
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...
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# portable equivalent command
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if [ "$((MATH))" -ne 0 ]; then
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...
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Quotes around the arithmetic expansion `$((MATH))` should not be
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necessary as per POSIX, but Bash and AT&T-KSH perform word-splitting on
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aritrhmetic expansions, so the most portable is *with quotes*.
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### echo command
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The overall problem with `echo` is, that there are 2 (maybe more)
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mainstream flavours around. The only case where you may safely use an
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`echo` on all systems is: Echoing non-variable arguments that don't
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start with a `-` (dash) and don't contain a `\` (backslash).
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Why? (list of known behaviours)
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- may or may not automatically interpret backslash escpape codes in the
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strings
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- may or may not automatically interpret switches (like `-n`)
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- may or may not ignore "end of options" tag (`--`)
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- `echo -n` and `echo -e` are neither portable nor standard (**even
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within the same shell**, depending on the version or environment
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variables or the build options, especially KSH93 and Bash)
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For these, and possibly other, reasons, POSIX (SUS) standardized the
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existance of [the `printf` command](/commands/builtin/printf.md).
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### Parameter expansions
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- `${var:x:x}` is KSH93/Bash specific
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- `${var/../..}` and `${var//../..}` are KSH93/Bash specific
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- `var=$*` and `var=$@` are not handled the same in all shells if the
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first char of IFS is not " " (space). `var="$*"` should work (except
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the Bourne shell always joins the expansions with space)
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### Special variables
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#### PWD
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[PWD](/syntax/shellvars.md#PWD) is POSIX but not Bourne. Most shells are
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*not POSIX* in that they don't ignore the value of the `PWD` environment
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variable. Workaround to fix the value of `PWD` at the start of your
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script:
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pwd -P > dev/null
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#### RANDOM
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[RANDOM](/syntax/shellvars.md#RANDOM) is Bash/KSH/ZSH specific variable
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that will give you a random number up to 32767 (2^15-1). Among many
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other available external options, you can use awk to generate a random
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number. There are multiple implementations of awk and which version your
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system uses will depend. Most modern systems will call 'gawk' (i.e. GNU
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awk) or 'nawk'. 'oawk' (i.e. Original/Old awk) does not have the rand()
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or srand() functions, so is best avoided.
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# 'gawk' can produce random numbers using srand(). In this example, 10 integers between 1 and 500:
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randpm=$(gawk -v min=1 -v max=500 -v nNum=10 'BEGIN { srand(systime() + PROCINFO["pid"]); for (i = 0; i < nNum; ++i) {print int(min + rand() * (max - min)} }')
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# 'nawk' and 'mawk' does the same, but needs a seed to be provided for its rand() function. In this example we use $(date)
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randpm=$(mawk -v min=1 -v max=500 -v nNum=10 -v seed="$(date +%Y%M%d%H%M%S)" 'BEGIN { srand(seed); for (i = 0; i < nNum; ++i) {print int(min + rand() * (max - min)} }')
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*Yes, I'm not an `awk` expert, so please correct it, rather than
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complaining about possible stupid code!*
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# Well, seeing how this //is// BASH-hackers.org I kinda missed the bash way of doing the above ;-)
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# print a number between 0 and 500 :-)
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printf $(( 500 * RANDOM / 32767 ))
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# Or print 30 random numbers between 0 and 10 ;)
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X=0; while (( X++ < 30 )); do echo $(( 10 * RANDOM / 32767 )); done
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#### SECONDS
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[SECONDS](/syntax/shellvars.md#SECONDS) is KSH/ZSH/Bash specific. Avoid it.
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Find another method.
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### Check for a command in PATH
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The [PATH](/syntax/shellvars.md#PATH) variable is a colon-delimited list of
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directory names, so it's basically possible to run a loop and check
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every `PATH` component for the command you're looking for and for
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executability.
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However, this method doesn't look nice. There are other ways of doing
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this, using commands that are *not directly* related to this task.
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#### hash
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The `hash` command is used to make the shell store the full pathname of
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a command in a lookup-table (to avoid re-scanning the `PATH` on every
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command execution attempt). Since it has to do a `PATH` search, it can
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be used for this check.
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For example, to check if the command `ls` is available in a location
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accessible by `PATH`:
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if hash ls >/dev/null 2>&1; then
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echo "ls is available"
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fi
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Somewhat of a mass-check:
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for name in ls grep sed awk; do
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if ! hash "$name" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
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echo "FAIL: Missing command '$name'"
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exit 1
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fi
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done
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Here (bash 3), `hash` also respects builtin commands. I don't know if
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this works everywhere, but it seems logical.
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#### command
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The `command` command is used to explicitly call an external command,
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rather than a builtin with the same name. For exactly this reason, it
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has to do a `PATH` search, and can be used for this check.
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For example, to check if the command `sed` is available in a location
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accessible by `PATH`:
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if command -v sed >/dev/null 2>&1; then
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echo "sed is available"
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fi
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[^1]: "portable" doesn't necessarily mean it's POSIX, it can also mean
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it's "widely used and accepted", and thus maybe more portable than
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POSIX(r
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