"set -e -o pipefail" not working on bash script on Ubuntu 16

Solution 1:

On Ubuntu the default shell is dash (aka Debian Almquist Shell), to which /bin/sh is symlink. When your shell script is run with #!/bin/sh, you are effectively trying to run it with the default shell. However, dash doesn't have the pipefail option, which is why you're getting the error.

# Verifying what /bin/sh is symlinked to dash
$ ls -l /bin/sh
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4 2月  17  2016 /bin/sh -> dash
# Verify that pipefail doesn't exist as option for dash
$ dash    
$ set -o | grep pipefail                                              
$ set -o pipefail
dash: 1: set: Illegal option -o pipefail
$ sh
$ set -o pipefail
sh: 1: set: Illegal option -o pipefail
# Try this same option in bash
$ bash --posix
bash-4.3$ set -o pipefail
bash-4.3$  
# no error