Re: shell variable assignments around function invocations

[Bruno Haible]

Jim Meyering wrote:
> Given that both dash and Solaris 11's /bin/sh didn't accept it, ...
> Here's a proposed work-around:
> 
> +  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)

While ash-0.2 and Solaris 10 /bin/sh both print 1 here:

  func_return () { (exit $1); }
  f () { test $v = "`printenv v`"; func_return $?; }
  v=2 f
  echo $?

the latter also rejects the POSIX syntax for 'export':

  $ export a=b
  a=b: is not an identifier

So, while your workaround would fix the problem for ash-0.2, it will still
not work for the Solaris 10 /bin/sh.

Note that the problem in the two shells is different: in Solaris /bin/sh
the variable assignment is not visible at all inside the function, whereas
in ash-0.2 it is visible but not exported. Test code:

  func_return () { (exit $1); }
  func_test_exported () { v_val=`printenv v`; echo "v unexported: $v"; echo "v 
exported: $v_val"; test $v = $v_val; func_return $?; }
  unset v; v=2 func_test_exported

ash-0.2:
  v unexported: 2
  v exported: 
  test: =: argument expected

Solaris 10 /bin/sh:
  v unexported: 
  v exported: