Re: Leak in BASH "named" file descriptors?

[Chet Ramey]

On 1/27/16 1:18 PM, Mathieu Patenaude wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> When using "named" file descriptors inside a function, the file descriptors
> are not automatically un-linked when the function returns, but when using
> regular "numbered" file descriptors they are automatically "destroyed".

Yes.  That's the intent.  The idea is that if you assign a variable, you
have a `handle' on the file descriptor and can manage it yourself.  It's
closer to how open(2) works: the system selects a descriptor and tells you
what it is, and it's up to you to track it from there.

In that sense, variables assigned by redirections are similar to how
`exec' makes redirections persist beyond a single command.

(I thought this had come up before, but I couldn't find that particular
discussion.)

Chet

-- 
``The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.'' - Chaucer
                 ``Ars longa, vita brevis'' - Hippocrates
Chet Ramey, ITS, CWRU    chet@case.edu    http://cnswww.cns.cwru.edu/~chet/