I have a Korn shell script

#!/bin/ksh
# set the right ENV
case $INPUT in
abc)
  export BIN=${ABC_BIN}
  ;;
  def)
  export BIN=${DEF_BIN}
  ;;
  *)
  export BIN=${BASE_BIN}
  ;;
esac
# exit 0 <- bad idea for sourcing the file

now these VARs are export'ed only in a subshell, but I want them to be set in my parent shell as well, so when I am at the prompt those vars are still set correctly.

I know about

. .myscript.sh

but is there a way to do it without 'sourcing'? as my users often forget to 'source'.

EDIT1: removing the "exit 0" part - this was just me typing without thinking first

EDIT2: to add more detail on why do i need this: my developers write code for (for simplicity sake) 2 apps : ABC & DEF. every app is run in production by separate users usrabc and usrdef, hence have setup their $BIN, $CFG, $ORA_HOME, whatever - specific to their apps.

so

• ABC's $BIN = /opt/abc/bin # $ABC_BIN in the above script
• DEF's $BIN = /opt/def/bin # $DEF_BIN

etc.

now, on the dev box developers can develop both ABC and DEF at the same time under their own user account 'justin_case', and I make them source the file (above) so that they can switch their ENV var settings back and forth. ($BIN should point to $ABC_BIN at one time and then I need to switch to $BIN=$DEF_BIN)

now, the script should also create new sandboxes for parallel development of the same app, etc. this makes me to do it interactively, asking for sandbox name, etc.

• /home/justin_case/sandbox_abc_beta2
• /home/justin_case/sandbox_abc_r1
• /home/justin_case/sandbox_def_r1

the other option i have considered is writing aliases and add them to every users' profile

• alias 'setup_env=. .myscript.sh'

and run it with

• setup_env parameter1 ... parameterX

this makes more sense to me now