Old-timer UN*X trivia [was Re: Error confusing a newbie]

[Mitchell Morris]

In article <Pine.LNX.4.20.9912112009420.2270-100000 at leviathan.kdart.com>,
Keith Dart wrote:
[snip]
>In Linux, it runs with a shell! It seems Linux defaults to /bin/sh if an
>executable text file is executed even without a #! as the "magic" number.
>I'm not sure if this is a bug or a feature...

As a completely off-topic aside, when did the magic number cease being "#! /"
and turn into just "#!"? I still edit every script I see that's missing the
space between the sh-bang and the full path, 'cause that's how I learned it
all those many years ago. I will admit to having formed many of my UN*X
habits years ago on a (then smokin' fast) AT&T 3B2, and haven't bothered to
optimize all of them.

+Mitchell


-- 
Mitchell Morris

Wait... someone once manufactured a TV that didn't have a remote control?
Then what do you sit on when you need to accidentally start recording
something?
	-- Kibo