Sven Mascheck wrote:
> Henry Townsend wrote:
> 
>
> it does: type -p cmd

You missed my point; see below.
 
>
> s/modern POSIX-like shells/modern korn-like shells/

> POSIX doesn't handle type or whence and later almquist shells
> come with type.

Correction noted. However, I was aware of "type -p"; the point is not
equivalence of functionality but equivalence of syntax (hence the
reference to the finger gap). The question is, why doesn't bash offer
"whence" (6 letters, starting with 'w') as an equivalent of "type -p"?
Yes, of course a user can alias it themselves but that doesn't help when
it comes to support or discussion groups. And yes, of course it would be
equally helpful for ksh to offer "type" but given that it's taken 13
years and counting for many Unices to get to even ksh93, I fear I'll be
dead before a feature added in 2006 is generally available.

Come to think of it, I just recently read the GNU coding standards
document in which they make it quite clear that there's no mission to
ease interoperability between GNU/Linux and other Unix-like systems. I
suspect that's at the root of it. See
<http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/s...tem-Portability>

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