mksh (MirBSD Korn Shell)

mksh is a cool and free shell that’s a step up from pdksh. It’s made as part of the MirOS Project to work well with MirOS BSD, but you can also use it on other UNIX-like systems. So, if you're looking for a solid shell experience, mksh might be what you need!

How to Compile mksh

If you want to compile mksh, you'll need a bourne or POSIX shell. Just the basic Solaris /bin/sh will do the trick, and the Z shell should also work fine. Make sure you've got a C compiler ready. Right now, only the GNU Compiler Collection works for this, but there are plans to change that in the future.

Required Tools

You’ll also need some standard UNIX tools on your system. Here are some options:

• Any recent BSD version


• Darwin (Apple Mac OSX)


• Interix (Microsoft Services for Unix 3.5)


• GNU/Cygwin or UWIN


• GNU/Linux systems like Debian GNU/kFreeBSD and others


• Sun Solaris versions 8 through 11


• AIX or HP-UX 11i


• OSF/1

Your Runtime Needs

To run mksh, all you really need is the C runtime along with any extra libraries linked with it. If you want to use it interactively, having /bin/ed is optional but recommended. And don't forget: having a controlling terminal helps because job control won't work without it.

No Compilation? No Problem!

If compiling mksh on your Mac sounds like too much work, don’t worry! You can grab the mksh package through Fink thanks to Andreas "gecko2" Gockel at this link: Download mksh here!

The License Behind mksh

mksh is released under the MirOS License, so it's open for everyone to use and enjoy.