Despite recent competition from powerful alternatives such as Zsh [1], the Bourne-again shell (Bash) [2] is still the king of the hill on the Linux console. Users can use Bash interactively, and it also serves as a simple yet practical scripting language. Bash is part of the backbone of any working Linux system – all the more reason to investigate the benefits of upgrading to the new Bash 4 release, which appeared February 2009.

Why or Why Not?

On production systems, you might want to consider whether it is really necessary to upgrade to Bash 4. The major distributions will eventually spread the new version through their own updates, so the new Bash will reach you someday whether you download and install it or not. Programmers and many power users, on the other hand, like to embrace the goodies a new version offers as quickly as possible.

If you want to get a head start on new Bash features that are making their way to the next generation of Linux systems, you'll enjoy spending some quality time with Bash 4.

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