Re: [PATCH] Allow == as synonym for = in test

[Dan Muresan <danmbox@xxxxxxxxx>]

> No one ever said you couldn't write shell scripts in bash rather than in
> sh, even on Ubuntu.  You just have to use #!/bin/bash at the top, not
> #!/bin/sh.  Truth in scripting!

Please, not *that* red herring again... You know very well that the
existing packages that broke were the problem, not the scripts yet to
be written.

Maybe I've made too many points, so let me summarize:

1) changing from sh=bash to sh=dash in Ubuntu was done without due
publicity for such a monumental upheaval. This should not have been
buried in some bash / dash NEWS.gz, nor in some release notes. This
should have been included in ALL CAPS in all public announcements, on
all forums and above all download links (I'm exaggerating but you get
the point)

2) Before the update, there should have been a campaign promoting the
checkbashisms tool

3) I personally don't think dash was quite mature enough to be the
default shell when the change was made. Maybe it's getting there
today.

4) Now that everyone has paid the large price of a poorly prepared
switch-over, I don't want dash to become more tolerant of non-POSIX
idioms. The one benefit we have from dash is that it forces POSIX
compliance.

> blades that have 8+ cores and 24+G RAM, and 10gig ethernet interfaces.

Maybe you're not in the best position to argue in this case :) I have
worked before with a few megs of RAM (and even with sub-1M DSP OSs,
but that's different).

> I personally am very grateful to Ubuntu for taking the high road here
> and forcing some sanity and consideration back into the scripting

I believe you. However, many thousands of users were *not* grateful,
and I don't see why the preferences of a minority of developers in
various niches should over-rule the necessities of a majority of
desktop users.

(Actually, we all know why stuff like this happens: Debian is not
market-driven, so users' necessities, or their poor substitute --
money -- do not directly impact its direction)

-- Dan
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