test -r /dev/stdin fails in configure

[Matthias Benkmann]

From: bash
To: bug-bash@gnu.org
Subject: test -r /dev/stdin fails in configure

Configuration Information [Automatically generated, do not change]:
Machine: i586
OS: linux-gnu
Compiler: gcc
Compilation CFLAGS:  -DPROGRAM='bash' -DCONF_HOSTTYPE='i586' -
DCONF_OSTYPE='linux-gnu' -DCONF_MACHTYPE='i586-pc-linux-gnu' -
DCONF_VENDOR='pc' -DSHELL -DHAVE_CONFIG_H  -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64  -I.  -
I. -I./include -I./lib -I/usr/include -g -O2
uname output: Linux buddha 2.2.17 #1 Fri Feb 2 14:06:58 CET 2001 i586 
unknown
Machine Type: i586-pc-linux-gnu

Bash Version: 2.05
Patch Level: 0
Release Status: release

Description:
        When I log in as root, then su to a normal user account, /dev/tty?
        remains owned by root. Because /dev/tty? is not world-readable,
          test -r /dev/tty? 
        fails.
        Because /dev/stdin is a symlink to /dev/fd/0 which is a symlink to
        /dev/tty?, test -r /dev/stdin fails, too.
        Bash's configure script uses test -r /dev/stdin to test if /dev/stdin
        is available, so bash erroneously believes that /dev/stdin is not
        present.

Repeat-By:
        log in as root (Linux text console, no X)
        su to an unpriviledged user account (I'm using the su from the
          shadow package, not sh-utils)
        cd bash-2.05
        ./configure
        bash reports
          checking whether /dev/fd is available... absent
          checking whether /dev/stdin stdout stderr are available... absent
        even though /dev/fd and /dev/stdin are available and functional.  

Fix:
        I see no reason for testing with -r. A simple test -e should be
        sufficient.



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