sort bug

[Mark Martin]

We have encountered a bug in the sort command that is part of the textutils 
package for Mandrake 7.2, Mandrake 8.0, and Red Hat 7.1.  The following table 
lists the corresponding rpm files and textutils version numbers

Linux Distribution              rpm file                        textutils 
version
-------------------------------------------------
Mandrake 7.2    textutils-2.0-7mdk.i586.rpm               2.0
Mandrake 8.0    textutils-2.0-10mdk.i586.rpm              2.0
Red Hat 7.1     textutils-2.0.11-7.i386.rpm             2.0.11

The bug is also present in textutils version 2.0.14.  Textutils versions 1.22 
and 2.0a do not appear to have the bug.

For the "buggy" versions, the sort command rearranges the following lines

-------------- input to sort command -------------
3.1.1.2   SERUM PARAOXONASE/ARYLESTERASE 2 (EC 3.1.1.2) (EC 3.1.8.1)
3.1.1.2   SERUM PARAOXONASE/ARYLESTERASE 3 (EC 3.1.1.2) (EC 3.1.8.1)
3.1.1.31  6-PHOSPHOGLUCONOLACTONASE (EC 3.1.1.31)
3.1.13.1  <a href=
3.1.13.1  <a href=
3.1.13.1  EXORIBONUCLEASE II (EC 3.1.13.1)
3.1.1.31  GL
44444
0000
------------------ end input -------------------

into the following order

------------- output from sort command ------------
0000
3.1.1.2   SERUM PARAOXONASE/ARYLESTERASE 2 (EC 3.1.1.2) (EC 3.1.8.1)
3.1.1.2   SERUM PARAOXONASE/ARYLESTERASE 3 (EC 3.1.1.2) (EC 3.1.8.1)
3.1.1.31  6-PHOSPHOGLUCONOLACTONASE (EC 3.1.1.31)
3.1.13.1  <a href=
3.1.13.1  <a href=
3.1.13.1  EXORIBONUCLEASE II (EC 3.1.13.1)
3.1.1.31  GL
44444
----------------- end output -------------------

The lines

3.1.1.31  6-PHOSPHOGLUCONOLACTONASE (EC 3.1.1.31)

and

3.1.1.31  GL

should be sequential in the sort output but they are not.

Mark A. Martin
Integrated Genomics, Inc.