New: execve(2) manual page ".sh" usage exposes implementation detail

https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=84701

Bug ID: 84701
Summary: execve(2) manual page ".sh" usage exposes
implementation detail
Product: Documentation
Version: unspecified
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
Status: NEW
Severity: normal
Priority: P1
Component: man-pages
Assignee: documentation_man-pages-ztI5WcYan/[email protected]
Reporter: [email protected]
Regression: No

This content:

       We can also use these programs to  demonstrate  the  use  of  a  script
       interpreter.   To do this we create a script whose "interpreter" is our
       myecho program:

           $ cat > script.sh
           #! ./myecho script-arg
           ^D
           $ chmod +x script.sh

       We can then use our program to exec the script:

           $ ./execve ./script.sh
           argv[0]: ./myecho
           argv[1]: script-arg
           argv[2]: ./script.sh
           argv[3]: hello
           argv[4]: world

Should probably instead read:

       We can also use these programs to  demonstrate  the  use  of  a  script
       interpreter.   To do this we create a script whose "interpreter" is our
       myecho program:

           $ cat > script
           #!./myecho script-arg
           ^D
           $ chmod +x script

       We can then use our program to exec the script:

           $ ./execve ./script
           argv[0]: ./myecho
           argv[1]: script-arg
           argv[2]: ./script
           argv[3]: hello
           argv[4]: world

Rationale:

1) Command name extensions considered harmful: Adding ".sh", or any other unneeded extension, unnecessarily duplicates meta information already present in the interpreter directive, exposing an implementation detail that then ends up explicitly part of other programs running this one. Later, when such a script is replaced with a new version in Python, C, etc., the useless ".sh" has to be retained to avoid breaking those other programs' calls to this one, and now has a stark antifunction of lying about the script's content and occasionally causing admins to run undefined experiments as root (like "bash -x ./reallyperlscript.sh"). Such extensions, while fine in DOS which ignores extensions explicitly, is a serious flaw in Unix-targeted script writing. Canonical documentation from the Linux manual should not support such a flawed idiom - recommending against it would be preferred.

A more extensive rant against them can be found at:
http://www.talisman.org/~erlkonig/documents/commandname-extensions-considered-harmful

2) The space after "#!" in the interpreter directive is minor - and the kernel's fs/binfmt_script.c specifically allows for it - but versions of unix have length limits from ~30 characters to linux's 127 or so (if that number's correct) so the space does have a cost. Most scripts I've seen lack that space, and there's no real reason to encourage it.

You are receiving this mail because:
You are watching the assignee of the bug.
--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-man" in
the body of a message to [email protected]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html

https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=84701

Michael Kerrisk <[email protected]> changed:

What |Removed |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

             Status|NEW                         |RESOLVED
                 CC|                            |[email protected]
         Resolution|---                         |CODE_FIX

--- Comment #1 from Michael Kerrisk <[email protected]> --- Alex, thanks for the detailed report. I've applied the patch below.

Cheers,

Michael

index 0b06974..dfa933b 100644
@@ -729,10 +729,10 @@ program:
 
 .in +4n
 .nf
-.RB "$" " cat > script.sh"
-.B #! ./myecho script-arg
+.RB "$" " cat > script"
+.B #!./myecho script-arg
 .B ^D
-.RB "$" " chmod +x script.sh"
+.RB "$" " chmod +x script"
 .fi
 .in
 

@@ -740,10 +740,10 @@ We can then use our program to exec the script:
 
 .in +4n
 .nf
-.RB "$" " ./execve ./script.sh"
+.RB "$" " ./execve ./script"
 argv[0]: ./myecho
 argv[1]: script-arg
-argv[2]: ./script.sh
+argv[2]: ./script
 argv[3]: hello
 argv[4]: world
 .fi

You are receiving this mail because:
You are watching the assignee of the bug.
--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-man" in
the body of a message to [email protected]
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html