Hear me out: A scripting language that compiles to bash or sh (any suggestions?) - eviltoast

why?

Because bash feels clunky to write and work with for anything non-trivial, especially compared to other scripting languages.

Why not another scripting language (no compile necessary)?

Because bash and sh are installed nearly everywhere. Any other scripting language means the user is required to have that installed, and that is far less likely to be the case.

If I could write my scripts in a nice syntax, but be sure my users will be able to use it effortlessly by distributing to them compiled versions, then that would make both of our lives easier!

Thoughts? Are there any languges that do this?

  • neil@programming.dev
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    1 year ago

    python is usually the next step up in admin land

    python is a pretty standard install on linux systems since so many things like you’re talking about use it

  • jeffhykin@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I write a lot of bootstrapping scripts, and I have a solution thats probably something you and others in this thread have never seen before. You can write a single script in a full/normal language, no compilation step, and it works on systems that only have bash/sh. It doesn’t compile to bash, or at least not in the way you might think/expect it to, but it should do what you want.

    (guillotine because it’s a universal executor) https://github.com/jeff-hykin/deno-guillotine

    This^ one uses Deno/JavaScript, but in principle it might be possible to do with other languages. It definitely requires some explanation, so I’ll try to give that here;

    As another person said, shells are not nearly as standardized as we need them to be. Mac uses zsh, Ubuntu uses dash, neither store a posix bash exectuable in the same place, and both have ls and grep differences that are big enough to crash common scripts. Even if you’re super strict on POSIX compliance, common things will still break if you write a big script (or trying to compile a big program to bash).

    I hate JS as much as the next guy, but it is possible to write a single text file that is valid bash/dash/zsh/powershell and valid JavaScript all at the same time. It sounds impossible, but there is enough overlapping syntax that actually any javascript program can be converted into a valid bash script without mangling the JS code. It might be possible to do for python as well.

    POSIX is good enough for making a small, carefully-crafted well-tested OS-detecting caveat-handling script. So that’s exactly what we do; use a small shell script at the top to ensure that the JS runtime you want is installed (auto install if missing). Then the script executes itself again using the JS runtime. It wasn’t easy but I a made a library that explains how it’s possible and gives a cli tool that automates it for the Deno runtime (the link I posted above).

    After that, I just recreated tools that feel like bash, but this time they are actually cross platform. Ex:

    let argWithSpaces = "some thing"
    run`echo hello ${argWithSpaces}`
    

    I picked Deno because it auto installs libraries (imports directly from URL so users don’t have to install anything)

    • aport@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

      its possible to write a single text file that is valid bash/dash/zsh/powershell and valid JavaScript all at the same time. It sounds impossible, but there is enough overlapping syntax that actually any javascript program can be converted into a valid bash script without mangling the JS code.

      I’m both impressed and horrified

      • UlrikHD@programming.dev
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        1 year ago

        It’d honestly the funniest thing I’ve read on this instance. Puts programmer humour to shame. Love it when developers finds the jankiest/unconventional way to solve problems.

      • jeffhykin@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Agreed hahaha. I thought I’d enjoy the day my code golf skills would be used to solve a legit problem but instead it just feels kinda gross 😆

        Honestly it’s really dissapointing we don’t just have an agreed-upon universal pre-installed language. And it’s beyond ironic (more like the universe is laughing at us) that JS, the web language that gets used for every not-web-thing, is also the language with a syntax that allows it to become the effectively universal no-preinstall language.

    • keegomatic@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Okay at first I was pretty convinced that this was just the wrong way to accomplish what I thought your goal was. But now, after reading the StackOverflow post and your README, I think this is fascinating and frankly really awesome. What a clever and strange thing, using multiline comments that way, and string no-ops. I think just knowing this exists will cause me to find reason to use it.

    • snowe@programming.devM
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      1 year ago

      Not only do you solve the problem op is trying to solve, but you also made the most horrifying and hilariously ingenious thing at the same time.

    • onlinepersona@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

      Bro, make a video and put it up on peertube please then link it in the README. I need to see this shit in action. It sounds awesome, but it’s 10am and my eyes are just opening, so reading through everything and testing it isn’t happening on my phone rn.

      • jeffhykin@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Actually I’ve been thinking of starting a Youtube/Peertube channel for a while so this will be a good place for me to start!

        I’ll come back and post a response once I’ve uploaded it! It’ll probably take a week or two.

    • Natanael@slrpnk.net
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      1 year ago

      Can this thing run complied WASM? Because compilers to WASM from other languages exists already

    • Mikina@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

      Do I understand it right that what the tool does is include install scripts in all of the other languages, that simply download a portable Deno runtime and then run the rest of the file (which is the original Javascript code) as Javascript?

      So, you basically still have an install step, but it was just automated to work cross-platform though what’s basically a polyglot install script. Meaning that this could probably be done with almost any other language, assuming it has a portable runtime - such as portable python and similar, is that correct?

      • jeffhykin@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Almost, but you bring up an important point about other language support.

        The code includes an install script for one language, and the second part about “any language” isn’t quite right. There is an alternative way to get any-language support but the current approach requires a language to have a syntax that is compatible with bash/powershell. For example I abuse the hell out of multi-line strings and multi line comments in javascript to make it be interpreted as a do-nothing bash/powershell script.

        Python specifically might be possible because of its triple-quote strings, I haven’t spent a long time trying but I did try a bit. However in general I don’t think languages, like Haskell or Elixr, can work in this form because their syntax is incompatible.

        However, if you don’t care about being able to edit the script, it should be possible to mangle code from other languages, like converting Haskell code to hex or some other escaped format (can’t be binary because that’s not valid bash/powershell). We’d need to handle unpacking that hex with shell/powershell, but it could be done. And in that case, yes it would work with any portable language. (And many are more portable than Deno, which struggles to run on old stuff like Ubuntu 16.04!)

        If you’re interested in the hex unpacking let me know. I’m working on an offline bootstrapping script for deno, which involves embedding the runtime binaries of all OS’s as hex into the script itself. Once I make it, it should be a lot easier to get this kind of thing working for other portable runtimes.

    • Pencilnoob@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      This is absolutely cursed and brilliant. Bravo!

      Now I just need to find a place to use it.

  • aport@programming.dev
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    1 year ago

    Unfortunately shell script is not as portable as you might be anticipating. Different distro run different shells, with different settings, and also different tools. Think BSD grep vs GNU grep.

    • Scott@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      I’ve seen multi distro scripts that are also able to bootstrap their own assets for each distro/architecture. Don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to check that considering /etc/os-release exists in pretty much every unix like environment.

      And having it run on a specific shell type could also be an option.

    • z3bra@lemmy.sdf.org
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      1 year ago

      That’s what the POSIX spec is for. BSD and GNU commands may differ, but they both support what’s specified by POSIX. By limiting your calls to it, you can write portable script with no problem (I’ve been doing that for the last few years without issue).

  • monobot@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    This thread reminds me of stackoverflow, most people are just convincing you in something else and it is obvious they have never been in your (and mine) situation.

    Just answer question if you have some idea, yes we know python exist, that’s nice, but not an answer to this question.

    • Natanael@slrpnk.net
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      1 year ago

      IMHO the closest real existing thing is compilers to WASM and then using a JavaScript engine, possibly a JavaScript engine which can run in bash (like that ridiculous hack below, lmao)

    • neil@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

      Knock off the childish fucking gatekeeping and go back to reddit. It’s what the wider industry uses.

      • Pyro@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        It’s perfectly acceptable to not want to use a certain tool.

        You would be the kind of person on SO to reply to a question saying “how do I do A” with “nobody does A, do B instead”. That’s not constructive.

        • BatmanAoD@programming.dev
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          1 year ago

          It absolutely can be constructive. The reason people respond that way on SO is because it is genuinely common for people to think they need something because they’ve misinterpreted the core problem they have.

  • Martin@feddit.nu
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    1 year ago

    Why not use a compiled language that compiles to fat binaries (rust, go etc)?

    • Dark Arc@social.packetloss.gg
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      1 year ago

      It’s worth noting any compiled language can make a “fat” binary (e.g., C++), you just need to use static linking.

  • dack@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I don’t see why bash would be used at all here. If you want something that doesn’t need another interpreter, then just compile a binary.

    • Cyclohexane@lemmy.mlOP
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      1 year ago

      Possible use case: scripts that are found in a codebase for doing… Codebase things. Like setting up dev environment for example.

      • dack@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        But then building it still requires whatever scripting tool you use. Including the bash-ified version would not for practice, as it wouldn’t be very human readable and would have to be kept in sync with the source script. It’s much cleaner and simpler to just require python for your build environment.

    • nxdefiant@startrek.website
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      1 year ago

      Still requires the compiler though.

      I don’t have a good answer, but I’ve embedded python in bash scripts before after having the bash script install python. Take that as you will.

    • Cyclohexane@lemmy.mlOP
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      1 year ago

      I’m familiar with NuShell and looks very nice. But unfortunately yeah, not what I’m looking for. It would require installation by user.

  • sim642@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Why not another scripting language (no compile necessary)?

    But you’re describing compiling that new language to bash…

  • theherk@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Although it doesn’t crosspile to bash, I think a good middle ground is bitfield/script. Basically you can do many things you would normally script very simply with nice syntax and distribute a binary.

  • swordsmanluke@programming.dev
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    1 year ago

    I’m gonna pile in with yet another option that isn’t a language that compiles to bash…

    Consider Ruby for easier shell scripting. With its back tick syntax for executing shell commands, it’s quick to use when you want to glue together a series of commands. …and then you get to use a sane syntax for your script’s logic.

    Ex:

    # Check my history for all usages of the xsv command
    # and extract the filename
    csv_files = `grep ~/.zsh_history "xsv" | awk '{print $3}'`.
                         split("\n").
                         map(&:chomp)
    
    # list any csv with my phone number
    csv_files.select { | filename|
      `grep #{filename} "555-1234"`.chomp != ""
    }.each {|filename| puts filename}