*BSD News Article 38488


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Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!munnari.oz.au!ihnp4.ucsd.edu!agate!michael
From: michael@cs.mun.ca (Michael Rendell)
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.announce
Subject: pdksh version 5.1.0 released
Followup-To: poster
Date: 27 Nov 1994 18:02:02 -0800
Organization: CS Dept., Memorial University of Newfoundland
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Sender: cgd@agate.berkeley.edu
Approved: 386bsd-announce-request@agate.berkeley.edu
Message-ID: <1994Nov24.153621.17370@cs.mun.ca>
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Keywords: public domain korn shell, ksh
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This is to announce a new version of the public domain ksh, a clone
of the AT&T Korn shell.  This version is believed to be quite stable.
It is available from:

    ftp.cs.mun.ca:pub/pdksh/pdksh-5.1.0.tar.gz	(320 kbytes)

    [MD5 (pdksh-5.1.0.tar.gz) = 167eeb19992945fdec44ae81a097fd89]

(newer versions will also be placed here as they are created)

The following bits are extracted from the README file:

    PD-ksh is a mostly complete AT&T ksh look-alike (see NOTES file for a list
    of things not supported).  Work is currently underway to make it fully
    compatible with both POSIX and AT&T ksh (when the two don't conflict).

    Since pdksh is free and compiles and runs on most common unix systems, it
    is very useful in creating a consistent user interface across multiple
    machines.  For example, in the CS dept. of MUN, pdksh is installed on a
    variety of machines including Suns, HPs, DecStations, pcs running Linux,
    etc., and is the login shell of ~3700 users.

    PDksh is currently being maintained by Michael Rendell (michael@cs.mun.ca),
    who took over from Simon J. Gerraty (sjg@zen.void.oz.au) at the later's
    suggestion.  A short list of things that have been added since the last
    public pdksh release (4.9) are auto-configuration, arrays, $(( .. )),
    [[ .. ]], variable attributes, co-processes, many POSIXisms and many bug
    fixes.  See the NEWS and ChangeLog files for other features added and bugs
    fixed.

    Note that pdksh is provided AS IS, with NO WARRANTY, either expressed or
    implied.  Also note that although the bulk of the code in pdksh is in the
    public domain, some files are copyrighten (but freely distributable) and
    subject to certain conditions (eg, don't remove copyright, document any
    changes, etc.).


The following lists things in AT&T ksh that aren't in pdksh yet (taken
from the NOTES file):

    General features of at&t ksh that are not (yet) in pdksh:
	- exported aliases.
	- exported functions.
	- set -t.
	- signals/traps not cleared during functions.
	- trap DEBUG, local ERR and EXIT traps in functions.
	- ERRNO, LINENO, LINES parameters.
	- cd/pwd doesn't have -L or -P options (not all at&t ksh's have this).
	- extended file globbing/pattern matching (ei, [?*+@!](pattern list)).
	  Also, doesn't have posix file globbing (eg, [[:alpha:]], etc.)
	- use of an `agent' to execute unreadable/setuid/setgid shell scripts
	  (don't ask).

Mail concerning pdksh can be sent to pdksh@cs.mun.ca.

--
Michael Rendell				Department of Computer Science
michael@cs.mun.ca			Memorial University of Newfoundland
 (709) 737-4550				St. John's, Nfld., Canada  A1C 5S7