[Mono-list] Running a shell builtin from mono

[Jonathan Pryor]

On Feb 8, 2013, at 5:39 AM, Mathias Tausig <mathias.tausig at a-cert.at> wrote:
> Does it? I didn't know that. I assumed it uses the same shell that mono is  running in.

You're assuming that Mono was started from a shell. This need not be the case (e.g. started directly as user's login shell or as system service, in which `init` would be the parent process).

Even if Mono is started from a shell, it's usually not possible for a child process to communicate with the parent process unless they're explicitly designed to do so (e.g. via common file descriptor or pipes); e.g. there's no way (that I know of) for a child to ask it's parent shell "what environment variables do you currently have?". (Keep in mind that the child gets a _copy_ of the parent's environment, so if the parent's environment changes, the child won't see those changes.)

Then there's Windows which doesn't even have a parent/child relationship.

 - Jon