Bash script mode

[M4rotte]

Bash script mode

[vapier]

we shouldn't encourage people to think turning on set -e means they don't need to add error checking

https://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashFAQ/105

set -u seems a matter of taste. I don't know that it catches bugs that really matter. for typod vars, shellcheck is better imo, especially because it is a static analyzer.

pipefail can be a little insidious. consider tools that exit early like grep -q -- if you were piping a large file to it, it could trigger a write to a closed ("broken") pipe, but not consistently. this is a fun bug to track down.

might be worthwhile adding an appendix on these options and why we don't require them all the time.

[M4rotte]

we shouldn't encourage people to think turning on set -e means they don't need to add error checking

The errexit option (set -e) clearly doesn’t prevent the need for proper error checking. I would even say it forces people not letting some silent errors here and there. I do not see how it could represent such an encouragement.

More I think about it, not exiting on error only makes sens for an interactive use of Bash, but not for a script. But it is indeed probably not always a good idea to set this option when the script is used. But during the development phase at least it is highly useful imo.

You’re right for the pipefail option. I don’t think it is as important as the errexit and nounset options.

The nounset (set -u), imho, forces user not to let “dead” code that could make the code harder to (re)read, and to always choose default value for any variable.

Thank you for your answers.