Xref: utzoo comp.bugs.4bsd:1093 comp.unix.questions:10287 comp.unix.wizards:12618
Newsgroups: comp.bugs.4bsd,comp.unix.questions,comp.unix.wizards
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Bug/misfeature in 4bsd /bin/sh
Message-ID: <1988Nov19.235444.29764@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <117@sickkids.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 19 Nov 88 23:54:44 GMT

In article <117@sickkids.UUCP> mark@sickkids.UUCP (Mark Bartelt) writes:
>... I notice also that the Berkeley folks have removed the above
>sentence from the sh(1) man page.  The question I have, is this all
>a bug or a misfeature?  Does anyone happen to know why they changed
>the semantics of the shell in this somewhat rude way?  ...

Almost certainly Berkeley didn't change it.  The problem is that the
Berkeley sh is an antique, so old that you can hear its joints creak
when you put any stress on it.  More modern shells (including the
SysV shell that many otherwise-BSD-derived commercial systems run)
get this (and other things) right.
-- 
Sendmail is a bug,             |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
not a feature.                 | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu