[plug] Bash syntax error bad substitution

[David Dartnall]

Tomasz Grzegurzko wrote:
> On Dec 6, 2007 11:12 AM, David Dartnall <darts at dialix.com.au> wrote:
>   
>> Mike Holland wrote:
>>     
>>> David Dartnall wrote:
>>>       
>>>>  A change from #!/bin/sh to #!/bin/bash at the start of the script
>>>> fixed the problem
>>>>         
>>> So your script claimed to be bourne shell, but really depended on bash
>>> features. Not unusual.
>>>       
>> No, /bin/sh previously had a link pointing to /bin/bash which the ubuntu
>> update apparently changed to /bin/dash.
>>     
>
> dash is 100% POSIX compliant. Any script that uses the features of
> bash but uses /bin/sh in their header has not realised this, but it is
> a very common problem. There are many differences between bash and the
> original sh that people have come to rely upon. If you don't like it,
> then reconfigure dash, or complain to the script author that they've
> made a mistake.
>
> Tomasz
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>   
Yes, I've got the message Tomasz, (and Russell) but I'm the author 
having learnt (in the last few weeks) enough shell scripting to do what 
I was attempting, from online tutorials which existed long before the 
advent of dash. Your last email relating to this encouraged me to do 
more research on the subject, and 
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/dash/+bug/61463, while it made 
the position clear, also indicated widespread concern about the breaking 
of older scripts. Thank you for your responses.
Dave D