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bug#16291: Use of /bin/rm
From: |
Stefano Lattarini |
Subject: |
bug#16291: Use of /bin/rm |
Date: |
Mon, 30 Dec 2013 17:40:49 +0100 |
On 12/30/2013 04:44 PM, Ludovic Courtès wrote:
> Stefano Lattarini <address@hidden> skribis:
>
>> On 12/29/2013 10:49 PM, Ludovic Courtès wrote:
>
> [...]
>
>>> However, in general, I think packages should not rely on hardcoded file
>>> names, and instead use AC_PATH_PROG or similar mechanisms to get the
>>> right file name.
>>>
>> Not in this case. The test is a "spy" check that tries to determine
>> whether either
>> (1) the first 'rm' in PATH or
>> (2) '/bin/rm' *if present*
>> is deficient, in that it errors out when the -f option is specified and
>> no non-option argument is passed. If /bin/rm does not exist, it can't
>> be deficient, so the test correctly passes (I assume that happened in
>> your setup, right?
>
> Yes.
>
>>> Would it be possible to change these tests to use ‘rm’ instead of /bin/rm?
>>> What do you think?
>>>
>> That would be a bad idea, because we would miss warning from systems
>> where /bin/rm is deficient but the user has installed a better rm
>> (maybe from GNU coreutils) earlier in PATH.
>>
>> If all you are seeing are few SKIP messages and no failure, I don't
>> think there is any problem to fix; everything is working as intended.
>
> Yes, of course.
>
> However, I’m still wondering: do Automake-generated makefiles and
> Autoconf macros explicitly attempt to use /bin/rm in normal use?
>
Re Automake: not that I'm aware of. Have you any proof this is
not the case?
Re Autoconf: that should be asked on the autoconf list.
> Why does /bin/rm matter in the first place?
>
> Thanks for your quick feedback,
> Ludo’.
>
Regards,
Stefano