Re: [PATCH] posix-shell.m4: fix typo that made this test malfunction

[Jim Meyering]

Paul Eggert <address@hidden> wrote:

> Jim Meyering <address@hidden> writes:
>
>> +       f () { test $v = "$(printenv v)"; func_return $?; }
>> +       v=2 f &&
>
> That doesn't look right to me.  I don't think POSIX requires
> that test to succeed.
>
> Hmm, let me find that language-lawyer hat!  Here are some quotes:
;-)

...
> So, there's no requirement that function executions be treated like
> ordinary commands as far as the "a=b f" syntax goes.  On the contrary,
> it looks more the other way around: if F is a function, "a=b f" looks
> like it is supposed to be executed as if it were "a=b; f".
>
> I fully admit that many real implementations disagree with the
> interpretation of POSIX given in the previous paragraph.  (Maybe
> someone should file an interpretation request.  :-) Given all the
> real-world problems with this syntax, though, it would seem unwise to
> test or rely on this particular feature.

Given that both dash and Solaris 11's /bin/sh didn't accept it,
I was skeptical that bash's behavior was required by POSIX.
Thanks for confirming.

Here's a proposed work-around:

>From b1a1fcbf578a3d2be1d616b6675a7702c8fde49b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Jim Meyering <address@hidden>
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2008 08:41:28 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] make check: accommodate stricter POSIX-conforming shells

Without this, test-related variable settings were not exported to
the shell_or_perl_ function when using dash or Solaris 11's /bin/sh.
* tests/check.mk (TESTS_ENVIRONMENT): Use an explicit "export",
so as not to rely on non-POSIX behavior of some /bin/sh (e.g.,
bash-based ones).
---
 tests/check.mk |    3 ++-
 1 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-)

diff --git a/tests/check.mk b/tests/check.mk
index c494da0..4fca283 100644
--- a/tests/check.mk
+++ b/tests/check.mk
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ TESTS_ENVIRONMENT =                           \
       $(SHELL) "$$1";                          \
     fi;                                                \
   };                                           \
+  export                                       \
   LOCALE_FR='$(LOCALE_FR)'                     \
   abs_top_builddir='$(abs_top_builddir)'       \
   abs_top_srcdir='$(abs_top_srcdir)'           \
@@ -86,7 +87,7 @@ TESTS_ENVIRONMENT =                           \
   PERL='$(PERL)'                               \
   REPLACE_GETCWD=$(REPLACE_GETCWD)             \
   PATH='$(abs_top_builddir)/src$(PATH_SEPARATOR)'"$$PATH" \
-  shell_or_perl_
+  ; shell_or_perl_

 TEST_LOGS = $(TESTS:=.log)

--
1.5.6.2.257.g3c010