CODEWITHSUNDEEP
bash
quantumpotato
quantumpotato

Reputation: 9767

BASH_VERSINFO differs from what bash --version shows

I tried copying from /usr/local/Cellar/bash/4.4.19/bin/bash to /usr/local/bin/bash because which bash shows /usr/local/bin/bash.

~/cat /etc/shells
/usr/local/Cellar/bash/4.4.19/bin/bash

~/bash --version
GNU bash, version 4.4.19(1)-release (x86_64-apple-darwin17.3.0)
Copyright (C) 2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>

This is free software; you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.


echo $BASH_VERSINFO
3

How do I fix this?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 1425

Answers (1)

Charles Duffy
Charles Duffy

Reputation: 295500

bash --version shows the version that would be run if a new shell were started from the PATH.

Thus, this version correlates with the install location from which bash (if not modified by aliases/functions/etc), or type bash (more accurately), or with the shell used to run a script with a #!/usr/bin/env bash shebang.

$BASH_VERSINFO and $BASH_VERSION show the version that's running right now.

Thus, if you're in a script with a #!/bin/bash shebang, or an interactive shell script for a user whose password database specifies /bin/bash as their shell, /usr/local/bin/bash (or any other location) being earlier in the PATH is irrelevant for purposes of the current, not-started-from-the-PATH shell instance.

To start the shell from the PATH in a script, change your shebang to #!/usr/bin/env bash. To start a specified shell from an interactive session, use chsh to update your account's settings.

Upvotes: 7

Related Questions