[nylug-talk] Cute bash feature (redirect-network)

[Ron Guerin]

Zachary Stern wrote:
> Is there a way I can load this functionality without recompiling bash?

If it's not compiled in, that's the end of the line.  If you grab the
source package, it wouldn't be hard to turn it on, just leave out the
--disable-net-redirections option.  Of course then you have the pleasure
of "owning" your bash package, which is why I never turned it on myself.

Here's what Debian has to say about it:

  9. Why is bash configured with --disable-net-redirections?

     It can produce completely unexpected results. This kind of
     feature should not be part of a shell but a special. tool. And
     that tool has existed for years already, it's called netcat.

So, yeah, that isn't really too enlightening, I gather the Debian
maintainer just doesn't approve of it.

- Ron