Function autoloading in bash I'm wondering if anyone can code review my code below.  That's the core code of my little framework for bash in GitHub.

## ==========================================================================================
## FUNCTION : autoload_functions
## PURPOSE  : To check functions that are required, try to autoload them if NOT YET defined
##
## INPUT: array of $req_func
## OUTPUT: exit 1 - if any required function cannot be autoloaded (meaning, not found in standard
##          library location.
## ==========================================================================================
autoload_functions()
{
    local req_func=$*
    local ret_val=0

    ## check first parameter. If it's a directory, then
    ## it is where functions should be loaded from
    local new_libdir=$1
    [[ -d $new_libdir ]] &amp;&amp; {
      shift
      LIB_DIR=$new_libdir
     }

    req_func=$* ## redeclare

    ## iterate through all $req_func, set $ret_val to 1
    ## if any required function cannot be autoloaded
    for each_func in $req_func; do
        func_name=`basename $each_func`
        ## if function undefined, try to auto-include (reference from specified location)
        type $func_name &amp;&gt; /dev/null || source $LIB_DIR/${each_func}.bash.inc

        ## recheck, ensure it has been defined.
        type $func_name &amp;&gt; /dev/null || (echo "ERROR: Missing required ${each_func}"; ret_val=1)
    done

    ## abort (exit 1) if any required func cannot be autoloaded
    [ $ret_val -eq 1 ] &amp;&amp; exit $ret_val
} ## END: autoload_functions()
Bug because of subshell

You are losing the value of ret_val in a subshell here:


... || (echo "ERROR: Missing required ${each_func}"; ret_val=1)



Variable assignments in a subshell are local to the subshell, so the variable in your function won't change. Instead of a subshell, you just want to group these commands using { ...; } like this: 

... || { echo "ERROR: Missing required ${each_func}"; ret_val=1; }


Unnecessary variable

You don't need the req_func variable. The top of your function could have been written simpler like this:

autoload_functions()
{
    local ret_val=0

    ## check first parameter. If it's a directory, then
    ## it is where functions should be loaded from
    local new_libdir=$1
    [[ -d $new_libdir ]] &amp;&amp; {
      shift
      LIB_DIR=$new_libdir
    }

    ## iterate through all arguments, set $ret_val to 1
    ## if any required function cannot be autoloaded
    for each_func; do
        # ...


Prefer $(...)

The `...` form for command substitution is deprecated, use $(...) instead:

func_name=$(basename $each_func)


Quoting variables with paths

This line will not work if LIB_DIR contains spaces:


type $func_name &amp;&gt; /dev/null || source $LIB_DIR/${each_func}.bash.inc



This would be safer:

type $func_name &amp;&gt; /dev/null || source "$LIB_DIR"/${each_func}.bash.inc


Though this is probably a bit paranoid.

The same goes for $func_name and ${each_func} too,
but that would seem even more paranoid.
(Who in his right mind would create bash scripts with spaces in the name?)

Naming

The names you chose for some variables are not great. I'd recommend these alternatives:


Instead of each_func: func_path or func_relpath (as in relative path from LIB_DIR)
Instead of ret_val: exit_code, because you may exit with this