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![]() Screenshot of a Bash session | |
Original author(s) | Brian Fox |
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Developer(s) | Chet Ramey |
Initial release | 8 June 1989 |
Stable release | 5.2.32[1] ![]() |
Repository | |
Written in | C |
Operating system |
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Platform | GNU |
Available in | Multilingual (gettext) |
Type | Shell (computing), Unix shell, command language |
License | Since 4.0: GPL-3.0-or-later, 1.11? to 3.2: GPL-2.0-or-later, 0.99? to 1.05?: GPL-1.0-or-later |
Website | www |
Bash, short for Bourne-Again SHell, is a shell program and command language supported by the Free Software Foundation[2] and first developed for the GNU Project[3] by Brian Fox.[4] Designed as a 100%[5] free software alternative for the Bourne shell,[6][7][8] it was initially released in 1989.[9] Its moniker is a play on words, referencing both its predecessor, the Bourne shell,[10] and the concept of rebirth.[11][12]
Since its inception, Bash has gained widespread adoption and is commonly used as the default login shell for numerous Linux distributions. It holds historical significance as one of the earliest programs ported to Linux by Linus Torvalds, alongside the GNU Compiler (GCC).[13] It is available on nearly all modern operating systems, making it a versatile tool in various computing environments.
As a command processor, Bash operates within a text window where users input commands to execute various tasks. It also supports the execution of commands from files, known as shell scripts, facilitating automation. In keeping with Unix shell conventions, Bash incorporates a rich set of features. The keywords, syntax, dynamically scoped variables and other basic features of the language are all copied from the Bourne shell, sh
. Other features, e.g., history, are copied from the C shell, csh
, and the Korn Shell, ksh
. Bash is a POSIX-compliant shell with a number of extensions.
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a nonprofit with a worldwide mission to promote computer user freedom.
The ultimate goal is to provide free software to do all of the jobs computer users want to do—and thus make proprietary software a thing of the past.
Brian Fox has now completed GNU's version of sh, called BASH, the `Bourne Again SHell'.
GNU is an operating system which is 100% free software.
The Bourne shell is an interactive command interpreter and command programming language.
For a year and a half, the GNU shell was "just about done". The author made repeated promises to deliver what he had done, and never kept them. Finally I could no longer believe he would ever deliver anything. So Foundation staff member Brian Fox is now implementing an imitation of the Bourne shell.
When Richard Stallman decided to create a full replacement for the then-encumbered Unix systems, he knew that he would eventually have to have replacements for all of the common utilities, especially the standard shell, and those replacements would have to have acceptable licensing.NOTE: Original computerworld.com.au link is dead: see also copies of original material at
"Bourne Again Shell" is a play on the name Bourne Shell, which was the usual shell on Unix.
The name is a pun on the name of the Bourne shell (sh), an early and important Unix shell written by Stephen Bourne and distributed with Version 7 Unix circa 1978, and the concept of being "born again".
I've currently ported bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40), and things seem to work.