writing a shell in c

[L337Hax0r]

for my operating systems design class i am supposed to write a shell in c. i have no idea where to start and our teacher hasn't given us much info. anyone know of any good tutorials?

 

[Richard Heathfield]

for my operating systems design class i am supposed to write a shell in c.
i have no idea where to start and our teacher hasn't given us much info.
anyone know of any good tutorials?

Here is an example shell (well, it's more of a skeleton, really), which does
not actually execute any internal commands - it just pretends to. On the
other hand, it /will/ execute external commands if they don't happen to
have the same name as the internal commands it understands, so use with
care!

Note that it is case-sensitive. If you're in Windows, MKDIR foo, for
example, will be treated as an external command and will actually create a
foo directory, whereas mkdir foo will be treated as internal, and will
merely /pretend/ to make a directory.

/* shelldemo.c
* Richard Heathfield, 2003
* Contact: (e-mail address removed)
* Permission is granted to copy this file and to modify it,
* provided that credit to the author is given where appropriate
* and modifications are clearly marked as such. In other words,
* don't pretend you wrote my bits, and don't pretend I wrote
* your bits.
* This code is intended merely to be an expression of an idea for
* matching up requests to function calls, and was written very
* quickly. It was not intended to be considered a model of
* exemplary programming practice. Witness the large main(), and
* the use of "magic numbers".
* Retain this comment. Thank you.
* - rjh 8 Jan 2003.
*/

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

int cmpstr(const void *vs1, const void *vs2)
{
char * const *s1 = vs1;
char * const *s2 = vs2;
return strcmp(*s1, *s2);
}

int rjhchdir(char *args)
{
if(args != NULL)
{
printf("You changed directory to %s.\n", args);
}
else
{
printf("You changed to your home directory.\n");
}
return 0;
}

int rjhclear(void)
{
printf("You cleared the display.\n");
return 0;
}

int rjhdf(void)
{
printf("You asked for disk usage info.\n");
return 0;
}

int rjhdu(char *args)
{
printf("You asked for directory usage info.\n");
if(args != NULL)
{
printf("Specifically, you wanted the option %s\n", args);
}
return 0;
}

int rjhls(char *args)
{
printf("You asked for a directory listing.\n");
if(args != NULL)
{
printf("Options: %s\n", args);
}
return 0;
}

int rjhmkdir(char *args)
{
if(args != NULL)
{
printf("You created a directory, %s\n", args);
}
else
{
printf("You have to say what "
"directory you want to create.\n");
}
return 0;
}

int rjhsu(char *args)
{
if(args != NULL)
{
printf("You switched user to %s\n", args);
}
else
{
printf("You are now root.\n");
}
return 0;
}

int main(void)
{
/* ensure this list is sorted! */
char *command[] =
{
"cd",
"clear",
"df",
"du",
"exit",
"ls",
"mkdir",
"su"
};
size_t numcommands = sizeof command / sizeof command[0];
char line[4096] = {0};
char safeline[4096] = {0};
int done = 0;
int i = 0;
char *s = line;
char **t = NULL;
char *prompt = ">";
char *args = NULL;
char *nl = NULL;

while(!done)
{
printf("%s", prompt);
fflush(stdout);
if(NULL == fgets(line, sizeof line, stdin))
{
t = NULL;
done = 1;
}
else
{
nl = strchr(line, '\n');
if(nl != NULL)
{
*nl = '\0';
strcpy(safeline, line);
}
else
{
int ch;
printf("Line too long! Ignored.\n");
while((ch = getchar()) != '\n' && ch != EOF)
{
continue;
}
if(ch == EOF)
{
done = 1;
}
}
args = strchr(line, ' ');
if(args != NULL)
{
*args++ = '\0';
}
t = bsearch(&s,
command,
numcommands,
sizeof command[0],
cmpstr);
}

if(!done && t != NULL)
{
i = (int)(t - command);
switch(i)
{
case 0: rjhchdir(args); break;
case 1: rjhclear(); break;
case 2: rjhdf(); break;
case 3: rjhdu(args); break;
case 4: done = 1; break;
case 5: rjhls(args); break;
case 6: rjhmkdir(args); break;
case 7: rjhsu(args); break;
default: break;
}
}
else
{
printf("%s is not an internal command. "
"Trying to execute it instead.\n", line);
system(safeline);
}
}

return 0;
}

 

[Christopher Benson-Manica]

for my operating systems design class i am supposed to write a shell in c. i
have no idea where to start and our teacher hasn't given us much info.
anyone know of any good tutorials?

0) Get clarification from the instructor if you don't understand the
requirements. No one else can help you until you at least are
clear on what you are to do.
1) Check Google if you haven't.
2) You may need to look elsewhere for help. The system() library call
is germane here, but all system calls are topics for other
newsgroups.
3) In any case, come up with some code first (standard C only, please)
and post here for help. Starting from scratch is *your* job.
4) I'm sure that at least one of the links below will prove useful to
you, if Google wasn't as illuminating as you'd like:

http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/u/dj3vande/clc/clc-welcome.txt
http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/top.html
http://benpfaff.org/writings/clc/off-topic.html

Have fun with your systems class. Make an effort to give it a go
yourself - newsgroups are no substitute for your own initiative.

 

[Ben Pfaff]

/* ensure this list is sorted! */
char *command[] =
{
"cd",
"clear",
"df",
"du",
"exit",
"ls",
"mkdir",
"su"
};

You're going to have a hard time keeping it sorted when sort
order varies from one platform to the next. You're already
calling bsearch(); why not call qsort() at the beginning too?

 

[Richard Heathfield]

/* ensure this list is sorted! */
char *command[] =
{
"cd",
"clear",
"df",
"du",
"exit",
"ls",
"mkdir",
"su"
};

You're going to have a hard time keeping it sorted when sort
order varies from one platform to the next. You're already
calling bsearch(); why not call qsort() at the beginning too?

For the same reason that I didn't do All Kinds Of Other Stuff.

If the OP wishes to add a qsort call, however, he or she (I don't recall
which, I'm afraid) is entirely welcome. It'll be excellent practice.

 

[Jeremy Yallop]

for my operating systems design class i am supposed to write a shell
in c. i have no idea where to start and our teacher hasn't given us
much info. anyone know of any good tutorials?

Advanced Unix Programming
by Marc J. Rochkind

Jeremy.