bash is still 10x larger than dash: $ ls -l /bin/[bd]ash -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1265648 Apr 23 2023 /bin/bash -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 125640 Jan 5 2023 /bin/dash
I would not be surprised if that impacts things like initrd and other resource constrained environments. Generally speaking, standards require multiple implementations. So having dash and bash leads to more consistency, not less. Folks have been using different shells for interactive and scripting usage for years. Just check in with anyone who uses csh for their interactive shell. That does not mean they write scripts in csh. Bash is known to have deviations from POSIX compliance, even in POSIX mode (though much fewer than I remember from the last time I bothered checking). On the other hand, it appears that POSIX is in the middle of a cycle introducing new shell features and Bash is actively implementing them. I have no idea if dash is doing similar. So it could be that, in a year or two, Bash is more compliant than dash. mrc
