BashSupport Pro 1.3 and future of open–source BashSupport

Published Jun 2, 2020

Please note, this post has been updated to match current plans for the upcoming versions.

Summary

• Version 1.3 of BashSupport Pro is a major update for 2020.1.2 and later.
  It adds most of the missing features to the integration with the JetBrains Shell plugin: multi–file navigation, rename, find usages, code–completion, and more!

• No update of the old BashSupport for 2020.2.
  2020.1 is the last version supported by the old, open–source BashSupport plugin. Switch to BashSupport Pro for a similar or even better feature–set.

Major Update of BashSupport Pro

Version 1.3 of BashSupport Pro is now available. It’s a major update and adds many powerful features to the integration with the JetBrains Shell plugin.

For example, it now supports go to declaration, find usages, rename, quick documentation and more. All of these features support sourced files and even work with files, which source the current file. This is the most powerful implementation to date and is superior to the old BashSupport plugin.

For 2020.1.2 and later, I now recommend to use BashSupport Pro. The new update is available for all JetBrains IDEs 2020.1.2 and later. Earlier versions of 2020.1 are not supported, because this particular version includes a patch, which I submitted to improve support for parameter expansions.

Next Steps For BashSupport Pro

I consider BashSupport Pro to be useful for most of the users. There’s a long list of features and improvements I’m planning, so more features will be shipped in the future.

The Future of Open–Source BashSupport

Back in 2018 I announced that BashSupport will only receive fixes for major problems. Still, I continued to provide updates for every new major version of the JetBrains IDEs.

Now, two years later and after more than a decade of supporting BashSupport for JetBrains IDEs, the old BashSupport plugin is finally retiring.

Version 2020.1 is the last major version supported by the open–source BashSupport plugin. There won’t be an update for 2020.2 and later versions. The published versions will remain to be available — you can use it as long as you want with every JetBrains IDE, version 2020.1 or earlier.

The latest versions of BashSupport Pro now provides an equal or even better experience than the old BashSupport.

JetBrains’s plugin is available for free and provides basic functionality. Everybody who needs a more powerful tool can buy a license for BashSupport Pro — it’s a great offer for what it does, in my opinion.

If you cared about the old plugin and contributed something in the past, then you might be eligible for a free license.