Classic Shell Scripting

Standards

Formal standards documents are important, as they represent "contracts" between implementors and users of computer systems.

1. IEEE Standard 1003.1-2001: Standard for Information Technology—Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX®). IEEE, New York, NY, U.S.A., 2001.

   This is the next-to-most recent POSIX standard. It combines both the system call interface standard and the shell and utilities standard in one document. Physically, the standard consists of several volumes, available online,^[3] in print,^[4] electronically as PDF, and on CD-ROM:

Base Definitions

This provides the history of the standard, definitions of terms, and specifications for file formats and input and output formats. ISBN 0-7381-3047-8; PDF: 0-7381-3010-9/SS94956; CD-ROM: 0-7381-3129-6/SE94956.

Rationale (Informative)

Not a formal part of the standard, in the sense that it does not impose requirements upon implementations, this volume provides the why for the way things are in the POSIX standard. ISBN 0-7381-3048-6; PDF: 0-7381-3010-9/SS94956; CD-ROM: 0-7381-3129-6/SE94956.

System Interfaces

This volume describes the interface to the operating system as seen by the C or C++ programmer. ISBN 0-7381-3094-4; PDF: 0-7381-3010-9/SS94956; CD-ROM: 0-7381-3129-6/SE94956.

Shell and Utilities

This volume is more relevant for readers of this book: it describes the operating system at the level of the shell and utilities. ISBN 0-7381-3050-8; PDF: 0-7381-3010-9/SS94956; CD-ROM: 0-7381-3129-6/SE9.

1. IEEE Standard 1003.1-2004: ...