Bakunin, it has just been tested: variables without a preceding $ work in AIX. It works with simple [ ].

We were really surprised about this because we never saw it before. But I am talking about hundreds of scripts written like this for a bank.

At the beginning we thouhgt those scripts didn't work, but after realising that there were hundreds we started to suspect that they actually worked that way.

This is part of the intricacies of the test command, and its peculiar ways.

I know that the only important thing is the shebang. Although it is only a visual matter, to me it looks like something unproperlly finished.. Anyone that sees those scripts without opening them will think that is ksh.
This is my point of view and I explain it like this: if I tell you that I have a friend and my friend's name is Pamela, what would you think? Is it a woman or a man? With the information you have, the name, you suppose that is a girl. I am sure you can "investigate" more and maybe is a boy, but someone with that name looks at first, a girl.

This case is the same, the name is information that could be used to make our life easier, to avoid the need to open the file if the name is self-explicative.

I understand your point though, but I would change the name as well.

I know it is going to be more difficult for the rest of the programs when they have to call the scripts...

The problem here is that in the scripts from AIX they used something like

Code:

/usr/bin/fuser

so I had to change it into

Code:

/bin/fuser

In the latest version of RHEL it doesn't work without the -n option. I tested it myself.

Regards.