Re: [Groff] [PATCH] Use bash for several contrib scripts

[Ralph Graulich]

> Folks, I think the aim of all shell scripts in groff is to be POSIX
> `sh' compatible.  In case there are bashisms, they should be removed
> and/or circumvented.

I second that! "sh" is the lowest common denominator on nearly all UNIX 
operating systems in existence. Therefore one should strive for writing the 
scripts for that shell if possible, for the sake of portability. At least for 
all the scripts that are commonly used for the software on all of the 
platforms. That seems especially important for such a widely used package as 
groff, which is required to be run on so many so different UNIX systems.

In case some special extension of a non-standard (or not-so-standard) shell is 
need to make a script more comfortable, one could include a stripped down "sh" 
only version that checks for a "bash" or "ksh" or whatever and in case it finds 
one, switches over to a more comfortable, full-fledged version. That way you'd 
get the best of all worlds.

Just my 2 cents.

Regards,
Ralph