Bash

Last updated: Mar 2, 2026

Rationale

Bash  is Fluid Attacks’ main shell.

The main reasons why we chose it over other alternatives are:

• It is open source .
• It is POSIX-compliant .
• It is one of the most reliable shells out there.

Alternatives

Zsh

• It is open source .
• It is a much more modern shell.
• It is the default shell for macOS, allowing us to use one shell for everything.
• It is one of the most reliable shells out there.
• It supports many plugins via Oh My Zsh .
• It has better autocompletion support.
• It supports built-in syntax highlighting.
• It provides linters and formatters, increasing code quality.

Zsh  looks like a very solid alternative for pretty much everything that is currently built in Bash, as it provides a middle ground between modernity, flexibility, stability and development experience.

Xonsh

• It is open source .
• It is a much more modern shell.
• It integrates with Python , increasing flexibility and decreasing cognitive load on developers.
• It benefits from the entire Python ecosystem, increasing flexibility.
• It lacks linters and formatters, decreasing code quality.

Xonsh  looks like a solid alternative for pretty much everything that is currently built in Bash, as it provides a middle ground between modernity, flexibility and development experience.

Usage

Bash is used by all Amazon EC2  servers, which basically comprise the entirety of Fluid Attacks’ infrastructure.