from the [email protected] email list On Thu, Sep 3, 2026 at 8:37 AM <[email protected]> wrote: > > From: Zachary Santer <[email protected]> > > > > The information NSUB would convey doesn't have anything to do with the > > kind of information held in PROCINFO. And all the other built-in > > variables are just in the awk namespace. > > PROCINFO["strftime"] is something of a counter-example. > > Over time, Bash has moved away from adding variables to do things > and instead controlling features via the shopt command.
I'm not sure how true this is. I'd like some input from bug-bash people. I know that setting the shell compatibility level went from using a shopt option to setting the BASH_COMPAT shell variable, at least. And you obviously can't convey information to the user through shopt options. How much concern is there that user scripts will already be using a given variable name for something else, whenever a new shell variable is added? Is the convention that only shell variables and environment variables get the all-caps treatment enough? And what's the story on the -- now two -- shell variables that are lower-case? > I can't > do the same thing, so PROCINFO["nsub"] is a nice compromise.
