SC2148: Should shebangs be required for non-executable files?

[mietek]

If I'm writing files which are only intended to be sourced, never executed, should I have to include shebangs?

In bashmenot.sh line 1:
export BASHMENOT_TOP_DIR
^-- SC2148: Include a shebang (#!) to specify the shell.

[koalaman]

Issue #215 is similar, and the answer is that I'm not entirely sure.

• Convention is generally to not have a shebang.
• Shellcheck would prefer having a shebang to determine the shell dialect.
• A case can be made for using e.g. #!/bin/sh -n to enforce the non-executableness of the file while also letting shellcheck/file/apache/whatever determine the file type.

Maybe the solution is #220 's suggestion for making it easier to permanently ignore these errors, and/or changing the error to a info notification saying "This file has no shebang. Assuming bash."

[koalaman]

Fixed in 0369f43. This is now an info message, and will not appear if -s is specified on the command line.

[mietek]

Thanks.