Short Answer:

• SAM is a flexible, text-based menuing system.

Intermediate Answer:

• SAM is a command line tool (for Slackware Linux) which uses a stack to provide control of variables, including PATH, and functions.  To do this it uses a set of scripts, functions and compiled code.  The result is a command line environment that changes the way you see and thus changes the way you think.  It has helped me to write more and better shell code.  Perhaps it will help you also.

Long Answer:

• What if you could dynamically create a Linux shell possessing a command set that allowed you to change the command set within that shell?

  That is what SAM does for Slackware Linux.

  Dynamically here refers to the manner of execution and may not be the best word.  I'm talking about three features:

  • SAM allows you to both open the SAM shell and pass commands to it, all in one invocation.

  • By default the shell remains open, with a working command line, until you exit from it.  Alternatively, you may instruct SAM to run in "batch" mode.

  • The SAM invocation needs a full path specification of the begin command which is found in the root of SAM.  To install SAM, simply unpack it.

  Command set here means the union of all (qualifying) sourced-and-exported functions and all commands available through the current definition of PATH.  You use bound to change the command set--without leaving the current shell.  It works by changing the definition of PATH followed by running "hash -r" and by a combination of unset-ting, sourcing and exporting functions.  The commands that do this manipulation of PATH and functions push part of the environment onto a stack.

  This allows SAM to retain previous values of PATH, PS1 and all variables that begin with lower case, and--later when needed--redefine and re-export certain previous functions.  This, in turn, allows the user to return to a previous state (the values of PS1 and variables that begin with lower case, and the command set) by use of the bye or pop commands--again without leaving the current shell.

Click in the menu at the left to learn more about SAM or to download the distribution.