Re: [Help-bash] Allow getopts to do what is capable with getopt?

[Chet Ramey]

On 3/25/15 5:55 PM, Bob Proulx wrote:

> AFAIK it was introduced into AT&T ksh way back before 1986.  I didn't
> research this.  But that is where my memory recalls it without fact
> checking.  But at the time back in the 1980's many things were added
> as builtins to ksh.  Note that at the time it was added to ksh the
> Unix getopt was not as featureful as the current one.  Comparing the
> same era getopt to the same era getopts and they are much more
> comparable.  Bash is as compatible as practical to other shells.
> Therefore it is in Bash for compatibility.

`getopts' was first introduced in the SVR3 sh, and ksh-88 adopted it from
there.


>> And using getopt in a script is atrociously stupid UNLESS you have TESTED
>> that the getopt you are invoking is in fact the non-standard Linux one.
> 
> I think that is too harsh.  It is perfectly reasonable to use getopt
> in portable shell scripts.  I have great respect for your deep
> knowledge of the shell but I disagree that getopt should never be used
> in shell scripts.

I think Greg was saying that if the only reason to use getopt in favor of
getopts is the features that the util-linux version offers, then you had
better be sure that's the one you're getting.  If you're not going to use
any of those features you should just go ahead and use getopts.

-- 
``The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.'' - Chaucer
                 ``Ars longa, vita brevis'' - Hippocrates
Chet Ramey, ITS, CWRU    address@hidden    http://cnswww.cns.cwru.edu/~chet/