[GLLUG] Questions about shell scripting

[Clay Dowling]

On 6/15/12 8:09 AM, David Lee Lambert wrote:
> The script I'm writing would be deployed on RHEL5, and the target
> environment is already running JBoss.  The languages I could use, 
> ordered from most-acceptable to least-acceptable (to management), are:
>
> 1.  Java (except then I might need another script to set up the
> classpath and invoke "java" with the right arguments)
>
> 2.  Bash or Korn shell
>
> 3.  perl or python (as long as I use only vendor-supplied modules, 
> that is,  what comes with RedHat;  random stuff from CPAN would
> technically require a long approval process from some lawyers).
>
> 4.  C
1. You need new management.  They don't understand the problem domain,
but they're trying to micromanage the work (I don't, for instance, tell
my roofers which tools they should use).  That's bad for the company. 
The languages by preference are listed in order of least suitability to
the task.

2. Python is at least as suitable for this task as C.  The choice would
be based on which is most comfortable for you and which is easiest to
support in your environment.

3. A C program will be the most stable of all of these options, if you
need a robust solution.  It will have the fewest external dependencies. 
Python requires that python be installed on the destination system, and
depends on external modules being available.  If you have to run in a
chroot environment, this can be a problem.  If you're already running
python scripts on these boxes, there should be no problem at all.

Clay