this post was submitted on 24 Sep 2025
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Too many people still use Bash.
I like zsh on mac because pretty colors
Too many distributions still ship with Bash.
In the real world, the only thing better than perfect is standardized.
Yeah, true. But, it's easy to change.
Bash is the Internet Explorer of shells. It's great for installing a more useful shell.
That's super unkind and incorrect. IE was a trash software that was widely available because MS was trying to extend their monopoly into new areas.
Even if it's not your taste, bash is a mature, stable FLOSS package with wide community support. The reason it is so common is due to it's positive attributes, not because there is a plot to make it the only choice available to you.
Bash might be better than IE. But I think we can agree that it is no longer a good shell.
Its syntax is awful, and lacks many features that other shells have.
It is only so widely used because it is a de facto standard. If bash was created today, barely no one would us it.
That's not true. Internet Explorer was fucking useless for scripting together things, unlike bash.
Internet Explorer shell expansion always trips me up.
What shell do you recommend?
I like zsh, but some people say great things about fish.
My problem with those is bash is always there and just works.
Yes, just like Internet Explorer.
It's good to know how to do things in bash, since you're going to encounter it pretty often. But, that doesn't mean you shouldn't customize your shell on the machine(s) you use most often. Why stick with the default when there are better options? You're just hobbling yourself.