Re: AS_EXECUTABLE_P again -- summary (was: bug in texi2dvi, and hack patch)

[Stepan Kasal]

Hi,

On Sat, Jan 22, 2005 at 08:52:16PM +0200, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> > If there was a named pipe /tmp/foo with an executable bit set, the test
> > could misclasify it as an executable file.
...
> FWIW, I don't regard this as ``misclasification'', since the named
> pipe does, indeed, have its executable bit set.

AS_EXECUTABLE_P is meant to discover _executables_, ie. executable programs.
The pipe doesn't fit into this definition.
(texi2dvi also needs to discover whether a certain program exists.)

> > I'm happy with the current code.  (Part of it is my work. :-)
> > It does `test -f $1 && test -x $1' on most platforms.
> 
> Would changing it to
> 
>         test -f $1 || test -x $1
> 
> leave you and others happy?

Absolutely no, that would succeed for an _executable_ directory.

When AS_EXECUTABLE_P was first introduced, it was mere `test -x'.
Soon after, problems appeared with m4 and perl:
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/autoconf/2001-01/msg00351.html
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/autoconf/2001-02/msg00080.html

Have a nice day,
        Stepan