Re: newline escape problem.

[Paul D. Smith]

I also want to be clear that I'm not considering _changing_ GNU make so
it doesn't obey $(SHELL), I just thought it was interesting that POSIX
doesn't make any statement about it.

What I was looking for was some information about what the legal
contents of $(SHELL) could be; whether it could contain whitespace or
other shell metacharacters, etc.  I mean, it's a little odd to consider
that you might find:

  SHELL = echo hi && /bin/sh

What does that mean?  How can this be legal if SHELL itself is supposed
to contain the name of the interpreter that's used to interpret the
command script?

Should this complexity be disallowed outright?  I think so.  But we
already allow SHELL to contain whitespace, as in:

  SHELL = /bin/sh -e

(not portable but does work in some shells) so there is _SOME_ amount of
parsing we have to do; then what if someone wanted:

  SHELL = /bin/my\ shell

or something?  Etc.

-- 
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 Paul D. Smith <address@hidden>          Find some GNU make tips at:
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 "Please remain calm...I may be mad, but I am a professional." --Mad Scientist