dash does not conform to LSB (-l option, /etc/profile.d)

[Till Kamppeter]

Binary package hint: lsb

The specifications of the LSB 3.1 require from the shell (sh, bash) that it sources all *.sh scripts when started as a login shell. See

http://refspecs.freestandards.org/LSB_3.1.0/LSB-Core-generic/LSB-Core-generic/etc.html

This is not the case with Ubuntu Linux and Ubuntu is certified as LSB-compliant. I have the "lsb" package installed.

A possible fix is adding

for i in /etc/profile.d/*.sh ; do
        if [ -x $i ]; then
                . $i
        fi
done

unset i

to the end of the file /etc/profile.

Another problem with the shell not being LSB-compliant is the lack of the "-l" option which is required here:

http://refspecs.freestandards.org/LSB_3.1.0/LSB-Core-generic/LSB-Core-generic/sh.html#CMD-SH-INVOKE

The "-l" option serves for starting the shell as a login shell.

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

bash supports -l, but dash does not.

[Matthias Klose (doko)]

adding that; once we do have that we have to be careful that no package actually uses it. debian policy says that a package has to work out of the box, without changing/setting any environment variables.

[Matthias Klose (doko)]

"The shell shall support an additional option", so this option is not required.

[Matthias Klose (doko)]

same for the /etc/profile.d/*.sh files: The sh utility shall read and execute commands ..."

[Micah Cowan (micahcowan)]

> "The shell shall support an additional option", so this option is not required.

Don't you mean, "so this option is required"? That;s what "shall support" means to me, anyway...

Note that this same behavior is required for "sh -", which has also traditionally meant "login mode" (dash supports this method, but still doesn't obey the LSB).

[Tollef Fog Heen (tfheen)]

Removing milestone, not RC (and bash is not /bin/sh in Ubuntu)

[Tollef Fog Heen (tfheen)]

Remove milestone; not RC for feisty.

[Scott James Remnant (Canonical) (canonical-scott)]

Remove milestone harder, and decrease importance.

LSB issues, especially when the LSB is trying to do an end-run around both POSIX and Debian Policy (which is where this proposal originally started), are not important for us.

[Ian Murdock (imurdock)]

I find this attitude disturbing. Ubuntu leadership has committed to the LSB, so it *should* be important for you. And the suggestion that this is "an end run around both POSIX and Debian Policy" is downright ridiculous. -ian

[Matt Zimmerman (mdz)]

Confirmed for dash

[Matt Zimmerman (mdz)]

I don't think the LSB applies to bash in Ubuntu, since it only standardizes /bin/sh (which on Ubuntu is dash, not bash). I would appreciate confirmation from LSB folk about this (setting to Needs Info).

[Matt Zimmerman (mdz)]

Dissociating from the lsb package; I don't think this has anything to do with the lsb package itself, only with compliance with the LSB specification (which is a different matter)

[Gael Varoquaux (gael-varoquaux)]

This issue _is_ important ! The default /bin/sh does not conform to LSB standards, and does not conform to common practice. This cause quite a few scripts fail, one of them being nautilus-open-terminal.

[Micah Cowan (micahcowan)]

Well, now, those are two entirely separate assertions. This particular LSB violation is hardly common practice.

What you really mean by "common practice" is GNU bashisms, which is a separate issue, and frankly, has already been talked to death (and, at the least, does not belong here).

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

Matthias, your "so this option is not required" claim doesn't match a plain English reading of the text. Please fix the two reported bugs; both are equally important and shouldn't be ignored.

[octoberdan (octoberdan)]

I wasted a long while before discovering that Ubuntu was not LSB compliant and this bug was the source of my broken scripts. How can this only be set to low?

[Matthias Klose (doko)]

addressed in base-files_4.0.1ubuntu2 and dash_0.5.4-6ubuntu1

[okparanoid (okparanoid)]

It will very convenient to have the /etc/profile.d working like this.
I need this to adjust properly proxy settings in different networks environments.

Will this commited for hardy ?

Thanks !

[okparanoid (okparanoid)]

sorry for the inconvenience, it is already done. :op

[Sergio Zanchetta (primes2h)]

The 18 month support period for Gutsy Gibbon 7.10 has reached its end of life -
http://www.ubuntu.com/news/ubuntu-7.10-eol . As a result, we are closing the
Gutsy task.