Original author(s) | Brian Fox |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Chet Ramey |
Initial release | 8 June 1989 |
Stable release | 5.2.37[1]
/ 23 September 2024 |
Repository | |
Written in | C |
Operating system | |
Platform | GNU |
Available in | Multilingual (gettext) |
Type | Shell (computing), Unix shell, command language |
License |
|
Website | www |
In computing, Bash (short for "Bourne Again SHell,")[6] is an interactive command interpreter and command programming language developed for UNIX-like operating systems.[7] Created in 1989[8] by Brian Fox for the GNU Project, it is supported by the Free Software Foundation and designed as a 100% free alternative for the Bourne shell (sh
) and other proprietary Unix shells.
[9]
Since its inception, Bash has gained widespread adoption and is commonly used as the default login shell for numerous Linux distributions.[10] It holds historical significance as one of the earliest programs ported to Linux by Linus Torvalds, alongside the GNU Compiler (GCC).[11] It is available on nearly all modern operating systems, making it a versatile tool in various computing environments.
As a command-line interface (CLI), Bash operates within a text window where users input commands to execute various tasks. It also supports the execution of commands from files, known as shell scripts, facilitating automation. In keeping with Unix shell conventions, Bash incorporates a rich set of features. The keywords, syntax, dynamically scoped variables, and other basic features of the language are all copied from the Bourne shell, sh
. Other features, e.g., history, are copied from the C shell, csh
, and the Korn Shell, ksh
. It is a POSIX-compliant shell with extensions.
Bash is free software, distributed under the terms of the [GNU] General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, version 3 of the License (or any later version).
See test.c for GPL-2.0-or-later
"Bourne Again Shell" is a play on the name Bourne Shell, which was the usual shell on Unix.
The name is a pun on the name of the Bourne shell (sh), an early and important Unix shell written by Stephen Bourne and distributed with Version 7 Unix circa 1978, and the concept of being "born again".
The Bourne shell is an interactive command interpreter and command programming language.
The ultimate goal is to provide free software to do all of the jobs computer users want to do—and thus make proprietary software a thing of the past.
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a nonprofit with a worldwide mission to promote computer user freedom.
GNU is an operating system which is 100% free software.
Brian Fox has now completed GNU's version of sh, called BASH, the `Bourne Again SHell'.
When Richard Stallman decided to create a full replacement for the then-encumbered Unix systems, he knew that he would eventually have to have replacements for all of the common utilities, especially the standard shell, and those replacements would have to have acceptable licensing.NOTE: Original computerworld.com.au link is dead: see also copies of original material at
I've currently ported bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40), and things seem to work.