Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!necntc!frog!john
From: john@frog.UUCP (John Woods)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: Should ``csh'' be part of the System V distribution?
Summary: ksh is not the best thing since sliced bread.  It is better than sliced bread.
Keywords: csh==Berkeley shell, should it be in System V or not?
Message-ID: <1072@X.UUCP>
Date: 17 May 88 03:20:00 GMT
References: <2599@usceast.UUCP> <2601@usceast.UUCP> <77@denali.stanford.edu>
Organization: Servants of the Great White Frog
Lines: 40

In article <77@denali.stanford.edu>, karish@denali.stanford.edu (karish) writes:
> In article <2601@usceast.UUCP> still@cs.scarolina.edu (Bert Still) writes:
> >Incidentally, as far as I know, no one
> >uses the Korn shell.

The UNOS operating system is now shipped with ksh as the standard command
interpreter (since ksh can be used without a UNIX(R) license).

> The only thing I miss is the '!$' construct;

Perhaps there are subtleties in the csh !$ construct that I am missing, but
in ksh, $_ is the last word of the previous command line.  In emacs mode,
ESC . (period) expands immediately into the last word.

> Unfortunately, AT&T isn't marketing ksh in a way that encourages its
> adoption as a standard.  I'd like to see it bundled with System V,
> instead of being an extra-cost option from the Toolchest.  The price
> of  a re-distribution license is reportedly about $20,000, which is too
> high, until there's a demand for the program.  The demand won't be
> there until people can try the program, and we go around and around.

For an operating system vendor, $20,000 for the right to distribute an
infinite number of copies of an incredibly useful program ought to be quite
attractive (though I guess traditional UNIX vendors might figure "it's not
THAT much better than plain old sh", or worse, "How could anything be better
than csh?" ULCH!).  And for mid-sized user communities, the $2,000 source-
and-site-license doesn't seem that bad, either.

> Some of Korn's claims for the program are a bit exaggerated.  It's
> still a good piece of work, and a worthy replacement for csh.

Amen!
-- 
John Woods, Charles River Data Systems, Framingham MA, (617) 626-1101
...!decvax!frog!john, john@frog.UUCP, ...!mit-eddie!jfw, jfw@eddie.mit.edu

"Cutting the space budget really restores my faith in humanity.  It
eliminates dreams, goals, and ideals and lets us get straight to the
business of hate, debauchery, and self-annihilation."
		-- Johnny Hart