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From: dhesi@bsu-cs.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: why does this script... ( : and # )
Message-ID: <767@bsu-cs.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 16-Jun-87 11:28:08 EDT
Article-I.D.: bsu-cs.767
Posted: Tue Jun 16 11:28:08 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 18-Jun-87 01:43:22 EDT
References: <913@rtech.UUCP> <7062@mimsy.UUCP>
Reply-To: dhesi@bsu-cs.UUCP (Rahul Dhesi)
Organization: CS Dept, Ball St U, Muncie, Indiana
Lines: 16
Summary: (a) Larry Wall's solution;  (b) Perhaps SVR3 shared library's  exec calls could be patched to recognize #!?

In several articles strategies for ensuring execution by a specific shell
are discussed.

Larry Wall's terrific installation scripts for patch and rn use the
equivalent of following line to force execution by sh:

     export PATH || (echo "OOPS, trying again..."; sh $0; kill $$)

There ought to be a way of doing the same thing for other shells.  The
penalty is the extra fork (or is it TWO extra forks?).

Perhaps somebody could publish a patch to SVR3's shared library so the
exec family of system calls/functions will test for #!, and modify the
text of the requested command, before passing control to the kernel?
-- 
Rahul Dhesi         UUCP:  {ihnp4,seismo}!{iuvax,pur-ee}!bsu-cs!dhesi