| 1 | Introduction
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| 2 | ============
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| 3 |
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| 4 | This is GNU Bash, version 3.1. Bash is the GNU Project's Bourne
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| 5 | Again SHell, a complete implementation of the POSIX.2 shell spec,
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| 6 | but also with interactive command line editing, job control on
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| 7 | architectures that support it, csh-like features such as history
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| 8 | substitution and brace expansion, and a slew of other features.
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| 9 | For more information on the features of Bash that are new to this
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| 10 | type of shell, see the file `doc/bashref.texi'. There is also a
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| 11 | large Unix-style man page. The man page is the definitive description
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| 12 | of the shell's features.
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| 13 |
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| 14 | See the file POSIX for a discussion of how the Bash defaults differ
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| 15 | from the POSIX.2 spec and a description of the Bash `posix mode'.
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| 16 |
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| 17 | There are some user-visible incompatibilities between this version
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| 18 | of Bash and a previous widely-distributed version, bash-1.14.
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| 19 | For details, see the file COMPAT. The NEWS file tersely lists
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| 20 | features that are new in this release.
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| 21 |
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| 22 | Bash is free software, distributed under the terms of the [GNU]
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| 23 | General Public License, version 2. For more information, see the
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| 24 | file COPYING.
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| 25 |
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| 26 | A number of frequently-asked questions are answered in the file
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| 27 | `doc/FAQ'.
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| 28 |
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| 29 | To compile Bash, try typing `./configure', then `make'. Bash
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| 30 | auto-configures the build process, so no further intervention
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| 31 | should be necessary. Bash builds with `gcc' by default if it is
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| 32 | available. If you want to use `cc' instead, type
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| 33 |
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| 34 | CC=cc ./configure
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| 35 |
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| 36 | if you are using a Bourne-style shell. If you are not, the following
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| 37 | may work:
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| 38 |
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| 39 | env CC=cc ./configure
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| 40 |
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| 41 | Read the file INSTALL in this directory for more information about how
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| 42 | to customize and control the build process. The file NOTES contains
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| 43 | platform-specific installation and configuration information.
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| 44 |
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| 45 | If you are a csh user and wish to convert your csh aliases to Bash
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| 46 | aliases, you may wish to use the script `examples/misc/alias-conv.sh'
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| 47 | as a starting point. The script `examples/misc/cshtobash' is a
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| 48 | more ambitious script that attempts to do a more complete job.
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| 49 |
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| 50 | Reporting Bugs
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| 51 | ==============
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| 52 |
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| 53 | Bug reports for bash should be sent to:
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| 54 |
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| 55 | bug-bash@gnu.org
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| 56 |
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| 57 | using the `bashbug' program that is built and installed at the same
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| 58 | time as bash.
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| 59 |
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| 60 | The discussion list `bug-bash@gnu.org' often contains information
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| 61 | about new ports of Bash, or discussions of new features or behavior
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| 62 | changes that people would like. This mailing list is also available
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| 63 | as a usenet newsgroup: gnu.bash.bug.
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| 64 |
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| 65 | When you send a bug report, please use the `bashbug' program that is
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| 66 | built at the same time as bash. If bash fails to build, try building
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| 67 | bashbug directly with `make bashbug'. If you cannot build `bashbug',
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| 68 | please send mail to bug-bash@gnu.org with the following information:
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| 69 |
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| 70 | * the version number and release status of Bash (e.g., 2.05a-release)
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| 71 | * the machine and OS that it is running on (you may run
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| 72 | `bashversion -l' from the bash build directory for this information)
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| 73 | * a list of the compilation flags or the contents of `config.h', if
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| 74 | appropriate
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| 75 | * a description of the bug
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| 76 | * a recipe for recreating the bug reliably
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| 77 | * a fix for the bug if you have one!
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| 78 |
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| 79 | The `bashbug' program includes much of this automatically.
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| 80 |
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| 81 | If you would like to contact the Bash maintainers directly, send mail
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| 82 | to bash-maintainers@gnu.org.
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| 83 |
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| 84 | While the Bash maintainers do not promise to fix all bugs, we would
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| 85 | like this shell to be the best that we can make it.
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| 86 |
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| 87 | Enjoy!
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| 88 |
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| 89 | Chet Ramey
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| 90 | chet@po.cwru.edu
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