Re: install-sh posix compliance

[Paul Eggert]

> From: Alexandre Duret-Lutz <address@hidden>
> Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2002 10:09:22 +0200
> 
> I don't get it.  The issue that you and the Autoconf manual
> describe is that `-a' and `-o' cannot be used *together*.

It's more complicated than that, due to combinations with other
operators.  For example, POSIX requires that

  test ! -o = -a

must succeed; here the "-o" and "-a" must be parsed as strings, not
options.  Even worse:

  test '(' = ')'

must fail (because '(' and ')' are different strings), whereas

  test '(' -a ')'

must succeed (because '-a' is not the null string).

If you assume the XSI extension to POSIX 1003.1-2001, so that you get
the -a and -o operators, then you have further anomalies.  For example,

  test 0 != 1 -a 2 != 3

conforms to POSIX+XSI, but

  test 0 -ne 1 -a 2 -ne 3

does not conform.  "!=" and "-ne" have different parsing rules in the
standard, when they are used with "-a" and "-o".  I haven't a clue as
to why the rules differ.

All this leads me to suggest that portable scripts should avoid -a and
-o entirely.  && and || suffice and are portable.  I'd rather not
worry about the ambiguities and portability problems of -a and -o.
(I don't even want to know which systems support -a and -o;
I have too few brain cells as it is.  :-)