Re: coreutils-6.4 build feedback

[Paul Eggert]

Jim Meyering <address@hidden> writes:

> Those are because of a (new-to-me) shell bug:
> Note how "$p" (which should be empty) expands to "/" here:
>
>     $ sh -xc 'p=; echo "$p"/subdir/'
>     p=
>     + echo //subdir/
>     //subdir/
>
> But not here, with the entire string double-quoted:
>
>     $ sh -xc 'p=; echo "$p/subdir/"'
>     p=
>     + echo /subdir/
>     /subdir/
> ...
> For the record, running config.guess on this system reports
> alphaev56-dec-osf4.0f
>
> uname says it's Tru64 'V4.0 1229'.
>
> Doubtless long overdue for retirement.

Yes, probably, but I guess we should document it in Autoconf.
I installed the following patch to Autoconf:

2006-10-25  Paul Eggert  <address@hidden>

        * doc/autoconf.texi (Slashes): Document Tru64 4.0 bug reported by
        Jim Meyering.

--- doc/autoconf.texi   25 Oct 2006 00:35:45 -0000      1.1100
+++ doc/autoconf.texi   25 Oct 2006 20:20:43 -0000
@@ -11859,8 +11859,19 @@
 /bc
 @end example

+Unpatched Tru64 4.0 @command{sh} adds a slash after @samp{"$var"} if the
+variable is empty and the second double-quote is followed by a word that
+begins and ends with slash:
+
address@hidden
+$ @kbd{sh -xc 'p=; echo "$p"/ouch/'}
+p=
++ echo //ouch/
+//ouch/
address@hidden example
+
 However, our understanding is that patches are available, so perhaps
-it's not worth worrying about working around this horrendous bug.
+it's not worth worrying about working around these horrendous bugs.

 @node Special Shell Variables
 @section Special Shell Variables