OpenSolaris

What are we are doing ?

The "shell project" should investigate and execute improvements related to shells and the shell environment in (Open-)Solaris:

• Improve usuablity for plain users, including beginners and admins
• Maintain/update various shells in Solaris (including bash, csh, [[ksh93>>Project ksh93-integration.WebHome]], tcsh, zsh, /usr/bin/sh, /usr/xpg4/bin/sh, etc.)
• Implement /etc/env.d/ to provide a way to add plugable shell scriptfragments for startup/shutdown of user sessions (login, interactive)
• Improve the default shell environment, including:
  • Manual-page subsystem, e.g. the defaults of MANPATH, PAGER, etc., the related tools and their default configuration
  • Per-user temporary directories (TMPDIR), e.g. /tmp/<username> instead of putting everything into /tmp
  • <more ideas welcome>
• Implement tools like /usr/sbin/chsh (change user shell) and /usr/bin/chfn (change finger/GCOS information)
• Improve internationalisation (=i18n) and localisation (=l10n) support in the shell environment
• Followup of the ksh93-integration project, including:
  • ksh93 busybox project
  • ksh93 Dtrace project
  • "shcomp" - shell script compiler and shbinexec kernel module
• Start the work on a future POSIX shell standard which may include some of the newer ksh93/bash features like:
  • associative arrays
  • function-style functions with local variables and scoping
  • floating-point math with C99 math functions
  • $"..."-style localised strings
  • "\u[unicodeval]" to describe a character using its hexadecimal unicode value
  • "\w[widecharval]" to describe a character using its hexadecimal widechar value (for locales like ja_JP.PCK where the character values are not based on Unicode)
  • /etc/sh.shrc and \~/.shrc as startup scripts for the standard shell in interactive mode
  • /etc/sh.sh_logout as counterpart to /etc/profile
  • Default path for loadable functions like /usr/libs/shell/
  • <more ideas welcome>

Why are we doing this ?

• Improve the user-friendliness of the Solaris shell environment, via enhancements of the default setup, history, builtins etc

Current status:

The ksh93-integration project is reaching "PHASE I" (=initial putback of ksh93 in OS/Net).

References/Links

• OpenSolaris shell project
  [http://www.opensolaris.org/os/project/shell/]
• KornShell home page
  [http://www.kornshell.com/]
• Bourne-Again Shell (bash) home page
  [http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/]
• POSIX sh(1) manual page
  [http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/000095399/utilities/sh.html]
• POSIX Shell Command Language
  [http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/000095399/utilities/xcu_chap02.html]
• Article: "Overview of the OpenSolaris Korn Shell 93 Integration Project"
   by Roland Mainz
  [http://www.opensolaris.org/os/project/ksh93-integration/osdevconf2007/osoldevconf2007_ksh93_talk_version100.html]