Message-ID: <69b33388@news.ausics.net>
From: not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev)
Subject: Re: Over-Elaborate Shell Scripting
Newsgroups: comp.unix.shell,comp.os.linux.misc
References: <10otpi4$1opu8$3@dont-email.me> <10otrqi$1p9ft$1@dont-email.me> <10ou2q9$1qp29$1@dont-email.me> <10oucet$vo4d$2@news.xmission.com>
User-Agent: tin/2.6.5-20251224 ("Glenury") (Linux/2.4.31 (i586))
NNTP-Posting-Host: news.ausics.net
Date: 13 Mar 2026 07:43:36 +1000
Organization: Ausics - https://newsgroups.ausics.net
Lines: 35
X-Complaints: abuse@ausics.net
Path: csiph.com!news.bbs.nz!news.ausics.net!not-for-mail
Xref: csiph.com comp.unix.shell:26667 comp.os.linux.misc:82899

In comp.os.linux.misc Kenny McCormack <gazelle@shell.xmission.com> wrote:
> In article <10ou2q9$1qp29$1@dont-email.me>,
> Janis Papanagnou  <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>Not only "a [one] failing"; it's full of bad coding practices!
>>(I suggest to abstain from it.)
> 
> Shell scripting seems to bring out the critic in everybody.  Nobody likes
> the way other people shell script.
> 
> Or, as I discovered long ago, nobody wants to run someone else's shell
> script.  What I mean is that if I hand you a piece of C code, you are quite
> likely to just compile it and run it, as is.  Similar for most other
> languages.  But shell, no.  Before you will consider running it, you will
> first analyze it and then probably pretty much totally re-write it.  And
> this as it should be.

I do read them often (though not nearly all of them, including those
installed with Linux distros and their packages), but I don't often
feel the need to rewrite large parts of shell scripts just for the
sake of style. There are many style arguments with C code too, but
maybe it's just above your barrier of time and effort to fix those
for the sake of perceived elegance.

> Something called "Python" (mentioned by another poster) probably falls
> somewhere in between.

Python in my experience enforces the re-writing step by inevitably
requiring a version that's either newer or older than what you have
available. Although since rewriting in Python only sets you up for
the same thing later on, I rewrite as a Bash script, assuming
there are no alternatives available in a sane language.

-- 
__          __
#_ < |\| |< _#