Problem

The current boolean env var handling in openemr.sh scripts accepts many different truthy/falsy values (1, yes, true, on, 0, no, false, off, etc.). This causes several problems:

1. String matching everywhere - Every check requires [[ "$VAR" = "true" ]] or similar
2. Potential confusion - on and no are easy to confuse/typo
3. Inconsistent behavior - Different scripts may accept different subsets of values
4. More code to maintain - The normalization function adds complexity

Proposal

Only accept literal true and false strings for boolean env vars:

validate_bool() {
    local var_name=$1
    local value=${!var_name}
    case "$value" in
        true|false) ;;
        *) echo "Error: $var_name must be 'true' or 'false', got '$value'" >&2; exit 1 ;;
    esac
}

Benefits

1. Simpler checks - Can use if $VAR; then directly since true and false are shell builtins
2. No ambiguity - Clear, explicit values only
3. Fail-fast - Invalid values caught immediately with helpful error message
4. Less code - No normalization logic needed

Migration

• Update documentation to specify true/false only
• Add validation that exits with a clear error message for invalid values
• Existing users with EASY_DEV_MODE=1 or =yes will see a clear error telling them to use =true

Affected variables

• EASY_DEV_MODE
• EASY_DEV_MODE_NEW
• INSANE_DEV_MODE
• PCOV_ON
• And potentially others that currently accept yes/no

Alternative considered

Keep the current normalization approach (accepting many values). Rejected because:

• Adds complexity for marginal user convenience
• Users can easily adapt to true/false
• Clear error messages make the transition painless