Shell Programming and Scripting

How does one make a recursive script in the bash shell? For instance, if I wanted a script that stepped through the directory structure starting with . and going to the deepest level, and ran make in each folder in the tree.

Yeah, I know a makefile could be setup to do this, but it's not allowed. No, I don't understand it either.

Probably because it's homework?

Seriously, bash is just a programming language like others and recursion can be done two ways....

1. starting child processes

2. calling functions

the function calling approach is often the best because it does not keep having to spawn new processes.

However variables then become and issue, with child processes they can only inherit variables, functions can change variables.

Bash also supports local variables in functions which are not global.

Nah, it's the government sector, which sometimes feels as pointless as homework, but without the "I'll escape here one day" feeling.

The system is setup so that some things have to be done in csh, some in bash, some as root, some absolutely never allowed as root, some that are best done rlogged into one machine, but that machine can never be used for actually running the sim, etc., etc. It's a monstrous conglomeration of homemade tools and outdated hardware.

It could be worse, you might have homemade hardware and outdated tools.

This is why all your variables (with carefully selected exceptions) should be local. From the iron rules of software engineering:

Thou shalt maketh your variables local and declareth them for everything else will be an abomination in the eyes of every compiler and every interpreter you might or might not run across.

bakunin

Exceptingeth a thell which doeth not thupport local, or PL/M compiler which every variable ith global unleth you declareth the prothedure reentrant, or RPG on your A-eth-400. And-lo, they altho remembered Bathic ath well.

We've got that too.