Re: Filenames containing blanks

[Guido Draheim]

Ralf Corsepius wrote:
> On Wed, 2003-07-23 at 09:39, Guido Draheim wrote:
>
> > Ralf Corsepius wrote:
> >
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > Simple question: Does automake support filenames containing blanks?
> > >
> > > I fear, the answer is no:
> > >
> > > # cat Makefile.am:
> > > data_DATA = foo\ 1
> > >
> > > # make DESTDIR=/tmp install
> > > ..
> > > /bin/sh ./mkinstalldirs /tmp/usr/local/share
> > > mkdir -p -- /tmp/usr/local/share
> > > /usr/bin/install -c -m 644 ./foo\ /tmp/usr/local/share/foo\
> > > /usr/bin/install: cannot stat `./foo\\': No such file or directory
> > > /usr/bin/install -c -m 644 ./1 /tmp/usr/local/share/1
> > > /usr/bin/install: cannot stat `./1': No such file or directory
> > > make[1]: *** [install-dist_dataDATA] Error 1
> > > ..
> > >
> > > Either I must be missing something (May-be I am quoting the blank
> > > incorrectly?) or something is broken ...
> >
> > # this is what we might expect...
> > $ for i in hello\ 1 2 ; do echo $i ; done
> > hello 1
> > 2
>
>
> > the assignment to a variable before for-in might have
> > been introduced to avoid problems with an empty list
> > which results in a syntax error on some platforms
> > (try `for i in; do`) but I've seen other solutions that
> > work just as well, like
> > for i in $(libs) : ; test "$$i" != ":" || continue;...
>
>
> Or may-be ..
>
> test -n '$(libs)' && for i in '$(libs)'; do ...

I like that one :-) it's about as short as the current way
to guard against empty lists, but I am sure you meant not
to use single-ticks around the for-in argument, did ye.. ;-)

> or
> if test -n '$(libs)'; then for ...
> else true; fi
>
> I might be wrong, but IIRC automake once had used something similar to
> this.

You are wrong, AFAICS, I've looked into automake 1.4-p6 and it's
about the same as the latest incarnation:

## Funny invocation because Makefile variable can be empty, leading to
## a syntax error in sh.
        @list='$(@address@hidden)'; for p in $$list; do \


> > Ooops, I just had a look into am/data.am, and there is
> > the very comment which I've just guessed above:
> > ## Funny invocation because Makefile variable can be empty, leading to
> > ## a syntax error in sh.
> >         @list='$(%DIR%_%PRIMARY%)'; for p in $$list; do \

Still, I'd vote for a change to pick up another syntax that
does use the resp. make-var as an unquoted item...

-- guido                                  http://google.de/search?q=guidod
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