#! in shell scripts

[John P. Linderman]

The convention that files beginning with "#!" are to be interpreted
by the command whose name follows is a useful and flexible one.
The convention that files beginning with "#" are csh scripts is
inflexible and demonstrably wrong.  It would be more productive to
fix csh (and any other shells that don't recognize the useful
convention) than to ask shell script authors to warp their scripts
to match a bad assumption.

John P. Linderman  Department of Shell Shock Trauma  allegra!jpl