$BASH_VERSION reports old version of bash on macOS, is this a problem that should be fixed?

Question

I have homebrew\'s bash package installed. When I open a new shell:

bash --version gives GNU bash, version 5.0.7(1)-release (x86_64-apple-darwin18

Answer 1

Your login shell (see echo $SHELL) is probably /bin/bash and that is the one setting $BASH_VERSION. If you need to use a specific version in scripts, use the full path in the #! line.