1Introduction 2============ 3 4This is GNU Bash, version 3.2. Bash is the GNU Project's Bourne 5Again SHell, a complete implementation of the POSIX.2 shell spec, 6but also with interactive command line editing, job control on 7architectures that support it, csh-like features such as history 8substitution and brace expansion, and a slew of other features. 9For more information on the features of Bash that are new to this 10type of shell, see the file `doc/bashref.texi'. There is also a 11large Unix-style man page. The man page is the definitive description 12of the shell's features. 13 14See the file POSIX for a discussion of how the Bash defaults differ 15from the POSIX.2 spec and a description of the Bash `posix mode'. 16 17There are some user-visible incompatibilities between this version 18of Bash and previous widely-distributed versions, bash-1.14 and 19bash-2.05b. For details, see the file COMPAT. The NEWS file tersely 20lists features that are new in this release. 21 22Bash is free software, distributed under the terms of the [GNU] 23General Public License, version 2. For more information, see the 24file COPYING. 25 26A number of frequently-asked questions are answered in the file 27`doc/FAQ'. 28 29To compile Bash, try typing `./configure', then `make'. Bash 30auto-configures the build process, so no further intervention 31should be necessary. Bash builds with `gcc' by default if it is 32available. If you want to use `cc' instead, type 33 34 CC=cc ./configure 35 36if you are using a Bourne-style shell. If you are not, the following 37may work: 38 39 env CC=cc ./configure 40 41Read the file INSTALL in this directory for more information about how 42to customize and control the build process. The file NOTES contains 43platform-specific installation and configuration information. 44 45If you are a csh user and wish to convert your csh aliases to Bash 46aliases, you may wish to use the script `examples/misc/alias-conv.sh' 47as a starting point. The script `examples/misc/cshtobash' is a 48more ambitious script that attempts to do a more complete job. 49 50Reporting Bugs 51============== 52 53Bug reports for bash should be sent to: 54 55 bug-bash@gnu.org 56 57using the `bashbug' program that is built and installed at the same 58time as bash. 59 60The discussion list `bug-bash@gnu.org' often contains information 61about new ports of Bash, or discussions of new features or behavior 62changes that people would like. This mailing list is also available 63as a usenet newsgroup: gnu.bash.bug. 64 65When you send a bug report, please use the `bashbug' program that is 66built at the same time as bash. If bash fails to build, try building 67bashbug directly with `make bashbug'. If you cannot build `bashbug', 68please send mail to bug-bash@gnu.org with the following information: 69 70 * the version number and release status of Bash (e.g., 2.05a-release) 71 * the machine and OS that it is running on (you may run 72 `bashversion -l' from the bash build directory for this information) 73 * a list of the compilation flags or the contents of `config.h', if 74 appropriate 75 * a description of the bug 76 * a recipe for recreating the bug reliably 77 * a fix for the bug if you have one! 78 79The `bashbug' program includes much of this automatically. 80 81If you would like to contact the Bash maintainers directly, send mail 82to bash-maintainers@gnu.org. 83 84While the Bash maintainers do not promise to fix all bugs, we would 85like this shell to be the best that we can make it. 86 87Enjoy! 88 89Chet Ramey 90chet.ramey@case.edu 91