From Ahead-of- to Just-in-Time and Back Again: Static Analysis for Unix Shell Programs

Lukas Lazarek; Seong Heon Jung; Evangelos Lamprou; Zekai Li; Anirudh Narsipur; Eric Zhao; Michael Greenberg; Konstantinos Kallas; Konstantinos Mamouras; Nikos Vasilakis

doi:10.1145/3713082.3730395

From Ahead-of- to Just-in-Time and Back Again: Static Analysis for Unix Shell Programs

Lukas Lazarek
, Seong Heon Jung
, Evangelos Lamprou
, Zekai Li
, Anirudh Narsipur
, Eric Zhao
, Michael Greenberg
, Konstantinos Kallas
, Konstantinos Mamouras
, Nikos Vasilakis

Department of Computer Science

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

Abstract

Shell programming is as prevalent as ever. It is also quite complex, due to the structure of shell programs, their use of opaque software components, and their complex interactions with the broader environment. As a result, even when exercising an abundance of care, shell developers discover devastating bugs in their programs only at runtime: at best, shell programs going wrong crash the execution of a long-running task; at worst, they silently corrupt the broader environment in which they execute - -affecting user data, modifying system files, and rendering entire systems unusable.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	HOTOS 2025 - Proceedings of the 2025 Workshop in Hot Topics in Operating Systems
Pages	88-95
Number of pages	8
ISBN (Electronic)	9798400714757
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3713082.3730395
State	Published - 6 Jun 2025
Event	20th ACM Workshop on Hot Topics in Operating Systems! - Banff, Canada Duration: 14 May 2025 → 16 May 2025

Publication series

Name	HOTOS 2025 - Proceedings of the 2025 Workshop in Hot Topics in Operating Systems

Conference

Conference	20th ACM Workshop on Hot Topics in Operating Systems!
Country/Territory	Canada
City	Banff
Period	14/05/25 → 16/05/25

Keywords

inference
Linux
shell
static analysis
type systems
Unix

Access to Document

10.1145/3713082.3730395

Cite this

Lazarek, L., Jung, S. H., Lamprou, E., Li, Z., Narsipur, A., Zhao, E., Greenberg, M., Kallas, K., Mamouras, K., & Vasilakis, N. (2025). From Ahead-of- to Just-in-Time and Back Again: Static Analysis for Unix Shell Programs. In HOTOS 2025 - Proceedings of the 2025 Workshop in Hot Topics in Operating Systems (pp. 88-95). (HOTOS 2025 - Proceedings of the 2025 Workshop in Hot Topics in Operating Systems). https://doi.org/10.1145/3713082.3730395

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title = "From Ahead-of- to Just-in-Time and Back Again: Static Analysis for Unix Shell Programs",

abstract = "Shell programming is as prevalent as ever. It is also quite complex, due to the structure of shell programs, their use of opaque software components, and their complex interactions with the broader environment. As a result, even when exercising an abundance of care, shell developers discover devastating bugs in their programs only at runtime: at best, shell programs going wrong crash the execution of a long-running task; at worst, they silently corrupt the broader environment in which they execute - -affecting user data, modifying system files, and rendering entire systems unusable.",

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Lazarek, L, Jung, SH, Lamprou, E, Li, Z, Narsipur, A, Zhao, E, Greenberg, M, Kallas, K, Mamouras, K & Vasilakis, N 2025, From Ahead-of- to Just-in-Time and Back Again: Static Analysis for Unix Shell Programs. in HOTOS 2025 - Proceedings of the 2025 Workshop in Hot Topics in Operating Systems. HOTOS 2025 - Proceedings of the 2025 Workshop in Hot Topics in Operating Systems, pp. 88-95, 20th ACM Workshop on Hot Topics in Operating Systems!, Banff, Canada, 14/05/25. https://doi.org/10.1145/3713082.3730395

From Ahead-of- to Just-in-Time and Back Again: Static Analysis for Unix Shell Programs. / Lazarek, Lukas; Jung, Seong Heon; Lamprou, Evangelos et al.
HOTOS 2025 - Proceedings of the 2025 Workshop in Hot Topics in Operating Systems. 2025. p. 88-95 (HOTOS 2025 - Proceedings of the 2025 Workshop in Hot Topics in Operating Systems).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

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From Ahead-of- to Just-in-Time and Back Again: Static Analysis for Unix Shell Programs

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