Re: texi2dvi: set -e, use tar

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Akim Demaille <address@hidden>
> Date: Mon, 09 Jan 2006 10:51:14 +0100

Thanks.

>       Stop using the idiom "test && action" in favor of "if test; then
>       action; fi".

Why? does it do any harm in some situations?

> -    cp $xref_files_orig "$work_bak"
> +    # The following line improves `cp $xref_files_orig "$work_bak"'
> +    # by preserving the directory parts.  Think of
> +    # cp chap1/main.aux chap2/main.aux $work_bak.
> +    tar cf - $xref_files_orig | (cd "$work_bak" && tar xf -)

Can you please describe the situation where texi2dvi is run on a
directory tree like the comment above suggests?  I didn't think this
could happen.

The problem with this replacement is that on non-Posix platforms it
requires yet another ported utility (Tar) and a very reliable support
in the shell for Posix-style (command...) semantics.  I think we
should consider the merits and demerits of this.