interim fix for generic list functions to avoid pointer aliasing issues; documentation updates

doc/bashref.info

@@ -2,9 +2,9 @@ This is bashref.info, produced by makeinfo version 7.2 from
 bashref.texi.
 
 This text is a brief description of the features that are present in the
-Bash shell (version 5.3, 16 March 2026).
+Bash shell (version 5.3, 29 April 2026).
 
-   This is Edition 5.3, last updated 16 March 2026, of ‘The GNU Bash
+   This is Edition 5.3, last updated 29 April 2026, of ‘The GNU Bash
 Reference Manual’, for ‘Bash’, Version 5.3.
 
    Copyright © 1988-2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
@@ -27,10 +27,10 @@ Bash Features
 *************
 
 This text is a brief description of the features that are present in the
-Bash shell (version 5.3, 16 March 2026).  The Bash home page is
+Bash shell (version 5.3, 29 April 2026).  The Bash home page is
 <http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/>.
 
-   This is Edition 5.3, last updated 16 March 2026, of ‘The GNU Bash
+   This is Edition 5.3, last updated 29 April 2026, of ‘The GNU Bash
 Reference Manual’, for ‘Bash’, Version 5.3.
 
    Bash contains features that appear in other popular shells, and some
@@ -3362,7 +3362,7 @@ File: bashref.info,  Node: Shell Scripts,  Prev: Executing Commands,  Up: Basic
 3.8 Shell Scripts
 =================
 
-A shell script is a text file containing shell commands.  When such a
+A “shell script” is a text file containing shell commands.  When such a
 file is used as the first non-option argument when invoking Bash, and
 neither the ‘-c’ nor ‘-s’ option is supplied (*note Invoking Bash::),
 Bash reads and executes commands from the file, then exits.  This mode
@@ -6667,6 +6667,12 @@ standard input and standard error are both connected to terminals (as
 determined by isatty(3)), or one started with the ‘-i’ option.  *Note
 Interactive Shells::, for more information.
 
+   A “non-interactive shell” is, not surprisingly, one that does not
+satisfy the tests for interactivity given above.  A non-interactive
+shell is usually started to run commands from a script file supplied as
+an argument (*note Shell Scripts::) or from a string supplied with the
+‘-c’ option.
+
    If arguments remain after option processing, and neither the ‘-c’ nor
 the ‘-s’ option has been supplied, the first argument is treated as the
 name of a file containing shell commands (*note Shell Scripts::).  When
@@ -6678,6 +6684,22 @@ If no commands are executed, the exit status is 0.  Bash first attempts
 to open the file in the current directory, and, if no file is found,
 searches the directories in ‘PATH’ for the script.
 
+   For example, the following command starts an interactive shell:
+
+     bash
+
+whereas this command will read and execute commands from ‘filename’:
+
+     bash filename
+
+This command will execute ‘echo hello’:
+
+     bash -c 'echo hello'
+
+and this will execute the same command read from the standard input:
+
+     echo echo hello | bash
+
 
 File: bashref.info,  Node: Bash Startup Files,  Next: Interactive Shells,  Prev: Invoking Bash,  Up: Bash Features
 
@@ -6685,8 +6707,8 @@ File: bashref.info,  Node: Bash Startup Files,  Next: Interactive Shells,  Prev:
 ======================
 
 This section describes how Bash executes its startup files.  If any of
-the files exist but cannot be read, Bash reports an error.  Tildes are
-expanded in filenames as described above under Tilde Expansion (*note
+the files exist but cannot be read, Bash reports an error.  Tildes in
+filenames are expanded as described above under Tilde Expansion (*note
 Tilde Expansion::).
 
    Interactive shells are described in *note Interactive Shells::.
@@ -6764,21 +6786,22 @@ Invoked in POSIX mode
 When Bash is started in POSIX mode, as with the ‘--posix’ command line
 option, it follows the POSIX standard for startup files.  In this mode,
 interactive shells expand the ‘ENV’ variable and read and execute
-commands from the file whose name is the expanded value.  No other
-startup files are read.
+commands from the file whose name is the expanded value.  A posix-mode
+shell does not attempt to read any other startup files, even when
+invoked as a login shell.
 
 Invoked by remote shell daemon
 ..............................
 
 Bash attempts to determine when it is being run with its standard input
-connected to a network connection, as when executed by the historical
-and rarely-seen remote shell daemon, usually ‘rshd’, or the secure shell
-daemon ‘sshd’.  If Bash determines it is being run non-interactively in
+connected to a network connection, as when executed by the secure shell
+daemon ‘sshd’.  or the historical and rarely-seen remote shell daemon,
+usually ‘rshd’.  If Bash determines it is being run non-interactively in
 this fashion, it reads and executes commands from ‘~/.bashrc’, if that
 file exists and is readable.  Bash does not read this file if invoked as
 ‘sh’.  The ‘--norc’ option inhibits this behavior, and the ‘--rcfile’
 option makes Bash use a different file instead of ‘~/.bashrc’, but
-neither ‘rshd’ nor ‘sshd’ generally invoke the shell with those options
+neither ‘sshd’ nor ‘rshd’ generally invoke the shell with those options
 or allow them to be specified.
 
 Invoked with unequal effective and real UID/GIDs
@@ -6790,8 +6813,8 @@ files are read, shell functions are not inherited from the environment,
 the ‘SHELLOPTS’, ‘BASHOPTS’, ‘CDPATH’, and ‘GLOBIGNORE’ variables, if
 they appear in the environment, are ignored, and the effective user id
 is set to the real user id.  If the ‘-p’ option is supplied at
-invocation, the startup behavior is the same, but the effective user id
-is not reset.
+invocation, the startup behavior is the same, but Bash does not reset
+the effective user id.
 
 
 File: bashref.info,  Node: Interactive Shells,  Next: Bash Conditional Expressions,  Prev: Bash Startup Files,  Up: Bash Features
@@ -13792,87 +13815,87 @@ Node: Environment141130
 Node: Exit Status143036
 Node: Signals145098
 Node: Shell Scripts150049
-Node: Shell Builtin Commands153350
-Node: Bourne Shell Builtins155694
-Node: Bash Builtins182416
-Node: Modifying Shell Behavior220154
-Node: The Set Builtin220499
-Node: The Shopt Builtin232496
-Node: Special Builtins249552
-Node: Shell Variables250544
-Node: Bourne Shell Variables250981
-Node: Bash Variables253492
-Node: Bash Features292779
-Node: Invoking Bash293796
-Node: Bash Startup Files300383
-Node: Interactive Shells305628
-Node: What is an Interactive Shell?306039
-Node: Is this Shell Interactive?306704
-Node: Interactive Shell Behavior307531
-Node: Bash Conditional Expressions311295
-Node: Shell Arithmetic316715
-Node: Aliases320045
-Node: Arrays323182
-Node: The Directory Stack330887
-Node: Directory Stack Builtins331687
-Node: Controlling the Prompt336135
-Node: The Restricted Shell339022
-Node: Bash POSIX Mode342118
-Node: Shell Compatibility Mode361937
-Node: Job Control370947
-Node: Job Control Basics371407
-Node: Job Control Builtins377778
-Node: Job Control Variables384569
-Node: Command Line Editing385803
-Node: Introduction and Notation387509
-Node: Readline Interaction389864
-Node: Readline Bare Essentials391055
-Node: Readline Movement Commands392866
-Node: Readline Killing Commands393865
-Node: Readline Arguments395891
-Node: Searching396984
-Node: Readline Init File399230
-Node: Readline Init File Syntax400536
-Node: Conditional Init Constructs427490
-Node: Sample Init File431878
-Node: Bindable Readline Commands435001
-Node: Commands For Moving436542
-Node: Commands For History439009
-Node: Commands For Text444403
-Node: Commands For Killing448531
-Node: Numeric Arguments451322
-Node: Commands For Completion452477
-Node: Keyboard Macros458176
-Node: Miscellaneous Commands458880
-Node: Readline vi Mode466426
-Node: Programmable Completion467406
-Node: Programmable Completion Builtins477145
-Node: A Programmable Completion Example488885
-Node: Using History Interactively494233
-Node: Bash History Facilities494917
-Node: Bash History Builtins498655
-Node: History Interaction506253
-Node: Event Designators511206
-Node: Word Designators512787
-Node: Modifiers515182
-Node: Installing Bash517122
-Node: Basic Installation518241
-Node: Compilers and Options522120
-Node: Compiling For Multiple Architectures522873
-Node: Installation Names524629
-Node: Specifying the System Type526866
-Node: Sharing Defaults527615
-Node: Operation Controls528332
-Node: Optional Features529354
-Node: Reporting Bugs542080
-Node: Major Differences From The Bourne Shell543440
-Node: GNU Free Documentation License564870
-Node: Indexes590050
-Node: Builtin Index590504
-Node: Reserved Word Index597605
-Node: Variable Index600053
-Node: Function Index617469
-Node: Concept Index631605
+Node: Shell Builtin Commands153356
+Node: Bourne Shell Builtins155700
+Node: Bash Builtins182422
+Node: Modifying Shell Behavior220160
+Node: The Set Builtin220505
+Node: The Shopt Builtin232502
+Node: Special Builtins249558
+Node: Shell Variables250550
+Node: Bourne Shell Variables250987
+Node: Bash Variables253498
+Node: Bash Features292785
+Node: Invoking Bash293802
+Node: Bash Startup Files301035
+Node: Interactive Shells306360
+Node: What is an Interactive Shell?306771
+Node: Is this Shell Interactive?307436
+Node: Interactive Shell Behavior308263
+Node: Bash Conditional Expressions312027
+Node: Shell Arithmetic317447
+Node: Aliases320777
+Node: Arrays323914
+Node: The Directory Stack331619
+Node: Directory Stack Builtins332419
+Node: Controlling the Prompt336867
+Node: The Restricted Shell339754
+Node: Bash POSIX Mode342850
+Node: Shell Compatibility Mode362669
+Node: Job Control371679
+Node: Job Control Basics372139
+Node: Job Control Builtins378510
+Node: Job Control Variables385301
+Node: Command Line Editing386535
+Node: Introduction and Notation388241
+Node: Readline Interaction390596
+Node: Readline Bare Essentials391787
+Node: Readline Movement Commands393598
+Node: Readline Killing Commands394597
+Node: Readline Arguments396623
+Node: Searching397716
+Node: Readline Init File399962
+Node: Readline Init File Syntax401268
+Node: Conditional Init Constructs428222
+Node: Sample Init File432610
+Node: Bindable Readline Commands435733
+Node: Commands For Moving437274
+Node: Commands For History439741
+Node: Commands For Text445135
+Node: Commands For Killing449263
+Node: Numeric Arguments452054
+Node: Commands For Completion453209
+Node: Keyboard Macros458908
+Node: Miscellaneous Commands459612
+Node: Readline vi Mode467158
+Node: Programmable Completion468138
+Node: Programmable Completion Builtins477877
+Node: A Programmable Completion Example489617
+Node: Using History Interactively494965
+Node: Bash History Facilities495649
+Node: Bash History Builtins499387
+Node: History Interaction506985
+Node: Event Designators511938
+Node: Word Designators513519
+Node: Modifiers515914
+Node: Installing Bash517854
+Node: Basic Installation518973
+Node: Compilers and Options522852
+Node: Compiling For Multiple Architectures523605
+Node: Installation Names525361
+Node: Specifying the System Type527598
+Node: Sharing Defaults528347
+Node: Operation Controls529064
+Node: Optional Features530086
+Node: Reporting Bugs542812
+Node: Major Differences From The Bourne Shell544172
+Node: GNU Free Documentation License565602
+Node: Indexes590782
+Node: Builtin Index591236
+Node: Reserved Word Index598337
+Node: Variable Index600785
+Node: Function Index618201
+Node: Concept Index632337
 
 End Tag Table