One of the most annoying footguns in previous shell-dep versions was the need to run hash -r or spawn a new subshell after installing or updating a dependency. Not anymore.
With v46 Hot, shell-dep hot-swap --bin rg atomically replaces the binary pointer in your environment’s PATH cache. The change is visible to the very next line in your script.
Example workflow:
$ shell-dep install rg@14.1.0
$ rg --version # Still shows 14.0.0 (old)
$ shell-dep hot-swap rg
$ rg --version # Now shows 14.1.0 (hot)
No exec $SHELL required. No source ~/.bashrc. Just hot swapping.
Version 46 introduces lockfile version 3. The format now includes a [hot] section that tracks cache invalidation tokens. If you try to use an old lockfile, shell-dep will error with: shell dep version 46 hot
Error: lockfile version 2 is too cold. Run 'shell-dep hot-upgrade'
Fix: Run shell-dep hot-upgrade in your project root. This will automatically migrate the lockfile and re-fetch all dependencies.
In the world of enterprise IT, few acronyms inspire as much quiet dread—or sudden urgency—as DEP (Data Execution Prevention). When combined with Shell (typically referring to Windows Shell, PowerShell, or a custom automation shell), and then tagged with the cryptic phrase "version 46 hot," system administrators, DevOps engineers, and cybersecurity leads tend to sit up straight.
Over the past 72 hours, the term "shell dep version 46 hot" has surged across technical forums, GitHub issue trackers, and Microsoft’s internal telemetry channels. But what exactly is it? Why is it "hot"? And more importantly—should you deploy it, block it, or patch against it?
This article dissects everything you need to know about Shell DEP Version 46 Hot, from its technical architecture to its real-world impact on production systems. One of the most annoying footguns in previous
The old --no-cache flag is gone. In its place, you now have --cache-strategy:
Update your CI scripts accordingly.
We’re deprecating the old # DEPENDS: header format. Version 46 introduces a cleaner, [dependencies] block inside a Shell.toml (or inline via dep:declare).
Old way (v45):
# DEPENDS: jq@1.6, curl@7.0, ./lib/utils.sh@branch
New way (v46):
# dep: begin
# [dependencies]
# jq = "~1.6"
# curl = "^7.0"
# lib-utils = path = "./lib/utils.sh", rev = "main"
# dep: end
The new parser is 4x faster and gives you proper semver suggestions.
The hottest complaint regarding dependency version 46 is GTK 4.10. Shell 46 now forces GTK 4 popovers. Old themes that relied on panel-button CSS selectors no longer work. Extensions must now depend on libadwaita-1 styles.
Upgrading is straightforward, but because of the cache and lockfile changes, do not do this on a Friday afternoon without testing. No exec $SHELL required
This means the binary’s signature is older than the max_sig_age (default 30 days). It still works, but you’ll see a warning. To silence, increase the age limit in .shell-dep.toml:
[hot]
max_sig_age_days = 60