Re: I think bash logic in a loop like : while [ condition] |read somevar is flawed.

[Suvayu Ali]

Hi Chet,

On Mon, Dec 30, 2013 at 11:33:43AM -0500, Chet Ramey wrote:
> On 12/30/13 11:22 AM, Suvayu Ali wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > On Thu, Dec 26, 2013 at 06:22:19PM -0500, Chet Ramey wrote:
> >> On 12/25/13, 1:33 AM, Pierre Gaston wrote:
> >>
> >>> If I remember correctly, POSIX allows the lastpipe behaviour.
> >>
> >> It does, in its usual fashion: "each command of a multi-command pipeline
> >> is in a subshell environment; as an extension, however, any or all
> >> commands in a pipeline may be executed in the current environment."
> > 
> > Is there any technical reason to choose one over the other?  Or is it
> > not really a choice, and is determined by other limitations of the
> > shell?
> 
> It simply doesn't work at all in a job control environment; to make that
> work requires a fork-on-the-fly-at-the-point-of-suspend strategy and a
> lot of ex post facto process group twiddling.  That's way more trouble
> than it's worth.
> 
> In terms of behavioral consistency, it's a lot easier and more consistent
> to say that all components of a pipeline are executed in subshell
> environments, and that they do not affect their parent's environment.
> 
> There are not that many other technical impediments to running the last
> component in the calling shell.  The one you have to pay the most attention
> to is making sure that all the pipe file descriptors get closed where they
> should, and making sure that all of the other commands in the pipeline get
> reaped properly.

Thanks a lot, I think I follow the complications involved in executing
in the current environment.

Cheers,

PS: Wish you a happy new year :)

-- 
Suvayu

Open source is the future. It sets us free.