PD-ksh

PD-ksh is a great alternative to the AT&T ksh (Korn shell). It's almost fully compatible, and there’s just a few things it doesn’t support yet. The team has been working hard to make it fit well with both POSIX and AT&T ksh, especially where they don't conflict.

Why Use PD-ksh?

This software is free and works on most common UNIX systems, making it super handy for keeping a consistent user interface across different machines. For instance, in the CS department at MUN, they have PD-ksh running on various machines like Suns, HPs, DecStations, and even PCs with Linux. It's actually the go-to login shell for around 5,200 users!

Maintainer Info

Currently, PD-ksh is maintained by Michael Rendell. He took over from Simon J. Gerraty after some suggestions came up. Since the last public release (which was version 4.9), some cool features have been added like auto-configuration, arrays, $(( .. )), [[ .. ]], variable attributes, co-processes, extended file globbing and tons of bug fixes.

Important Notes

Please keep in mind that PD-ksh comes AS IS with NO WARRANTY at all! While most of its code is in the public domain, some files are copyrighted but can still be shared freely under certain conditions—like keeping copyright notices intact and documenting any changes you make.

Supported Machines

This software has been reported to work on a variety of machines:

• /PC Linux 1.x, 2.x


• /PC NetBSD 0.9a


• /PC BSDI 1.1


• /PC FreeBSD 2.x, 3.x


• /PC OpenBSD


• /PC Interactive/Sunsoft 3.0.1 and 4.1 (note that problems have been reported with isc3.2 - see the BUG-REPORTS file)


• /PC OS/2


• Commodore/Amiga NetBSD 1.0


• Dec/alpha OSF/1 v2.x, v3.x


• Dec/alpha NetBSD 1.1B


• Dec/pmax Ultrix 4.2


• Dec/vax Ultrix 2.2 (not tested recently :-))


• Dec/vax 4.3BSD+NFS (MtXinu) (not tested recently :-))


• HP/pa HP-UX 9.01


• IBM/RS/6000 AIX 3.2.5


• MIPS/m120 RISC/os 5.0 (bsd43 environ)


• NeXT NeXTStep 3.2


• SGI/IRIX 6.2


• Sun/sun4 SunOS 4.1.3, 4.1.4


• Sun/sun4 Solaris 2.x


• Sun/sun386i SunOS 4.0.2


• Sun/sun3 SunOS 4.0.3, 4.1.1_U1


• Stardent/TitanOS 4.2