分发可加载的内置bash模块

Question

I've written a built-in for bash which modifies the 'cd' command, a requirement for my software. Is there a way to actually distribute a loadable independently of bash itself? I'd ideally like to distribute just a drop in "additional feature" because I know people can be put off by patching and compiling their shell from source code.

I want to time how long a user is in a directory so I can determine where they want to be. It's this functionality: http://github.com/joelthelion/autojump/tree/master rewritten as a bash builtin, for performance issues. This implementation uses $PROMPT_COMMAND to work but I wanted something integrated.

Answer 1

It is unclear what you have modified but in any case, bash (like at least ksh93 which IIRC introduced the concept and zsh ) supports, using the enable -f file name syntax, loading built-in functions as external dynamically loaded modules.

These modules being plain files can certainly be distributed independently, as long as you make sure they are compatible with the target version/architecture. This was already true 5 years ago when you asked this question.

One issue in your case is there seems to be no documented way to overload a internal built-in like cd by a dynamically loaded one while keeping the ability to access the former.

A simple workaround would be to implement your customized cd with a different name, say mycd, like this:

int mycd_builtin(list)
WORD_LIST *list;
{
  int rv;
  rv=cd_builtin(list);
  if(rv == EXECUTION_SUCCESS) {
    char wd[PATH_MAX+1];
    getcwd(wd,sizeof(wd));
    // do your custom stuff knowing the new working directory
    ...
  }
  return (rv);
}

then to use an alias, or better, a shell function for your customized version to be used instead of the regular one:

cd() {
  mycd "$@"
}

As long as your customization doesn't affect the behavior of the standard command and thus doesn't risk breaking scripts using it, there is nothing wrong in your approach.

Answer 2

Changing the built-in cd is a support nightmare for any admin and unwelcome to foreign users. What is wrong with naming it 'smart-cd' and letting the USER decide if they want the functionality by including it in their .bashrc or .profile? Then they can setup things however they want.

Also, using how long you've been in a directory is a pretty poor indication of preference. How would you distinguish between idling (a forgotten shell hanging in /tmp overnight), long-running scripts (nightly cron jobs), and actual activity.

There are a multitude of other methods for creating shortcuts to favorite directories: aliases, softlinks, $VARIABLES, scripts. It is arrogant of you to assume that your usage patterns will be welcomed by other users of your system.