Re: shell_execve tries to execute files for other interpreters

[Chet Ramey]

> I tried to write a script to be interpreted by another script.  Each
> script started with a #! line.  It turns out that this recursive
> script execution is not supported on Solaris 2.7 (execve returns
> ENOEXEC), so my attempt failed.
> 
> However, the process of diagnosing the problem was slowed by Bash
> 2.05a's misguided attempt to be helpful.  If simply exec'ing the file
> fails, Bash examines the beginning of the file to see if it is
> binary.  If it is not, it then interprets the file as a Bash script.

This behavior is mandated by POSIX.1-2001 (and POSIX.2-1992).  See

http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/007904975/utilities/xcu_chap02.html#tag_02_09_01

-- 
``The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.'' - Chaucer
( ``Discere est Dolere'' -- chet)

Chet Ramey, CWRU    chet@po.CWRU.Edu    http://cnswww.cns.cwru.edu/~chet/