Bug#207391: glibc: csu/Makefile patch

[Colin Watson <cjwatson@debian.org>]

retitle 207391 glibc: fails to build if /bin/sh != bash
thanks

On Mon, Sep 15, 2003 at 01:58:18PM -0700, Eric Wong wrote:
> Package: glibc
> Version: 2.3.7-2; reported 2003-09-15
> Followup-For: Bug #207391
> 
> I've gotten this newline issue in version-info.h both while building from
> non-modified sources for i386 and my own modified sources for i686. 
> 
> I'm not sure if it's a bug in make in the way it passes the argument, a bug in
> echo in coreutils or a shell bug.
> 
> The \\n\" sequence used in this section of the Makefile causes the newline
> character to be interpreted, instead of the double backslash being interpreted
> as a one.  The below patch works around the problem.  I'm using the latest
> versions of all the build-dependencies from unstable.
> 
> Below is a patch that works around the buggy \\n\" handling.  Should be a
> harmless fix even on systems that don't have the bug.

This points straight at differences in the echo builtin between shells.
POSIX notes: "It is not possible to use echo portably across all POSIX
systems unless both -n (as the first argument) and escape sequences are
omitted." I bet your /bin/sh isn't bash: for instance, dash's echo
interprets its arguments in the way you describe. Zed, is the same true
for you?

If you need any escape sequences in a portable shell script, then the
only real option is to avoid echo altogether and use printf instead. I'd
suggest the following modifications in place of yours:

> --- glibc-2.3.2.o/glibc-2.3.2/csu/Makefile	2003-09-15 13:35:41.000000000 -0700
> +++ glibc-2.3.2/glibc-2.3.2/csu/Makefile	2003-09-15 13:34:21.000000000 -0700
> @@ -231,13 +231,15 @@
>  		   if [ -z "$$os" ]; then \
>  		     os=Linux; \
>  		   fi; \
> -		   echo "\"Compiled on a $$os $$version system" \
> -			"on `date +%Y-%m-%d`.\\n\"" ;; \
> +		   echo -n "\"Compiled on a $$os $$version system" \
> +			"on `date +%Y-%m-%d`.\\" ; \
> +		   echo "n\"";; \

+		   printf '"Compiled on a %s %s system on %s.\\n"\n' \
+			"$os" "$version" "`date +%Y-%m-%d`" ;; \

>  	   *) ;; \
>  	 esac; \
>  	 files="$(all-Banner-files)";				\
>  	 if test -n "$$files"; then				\
> -	   echo "\"Available extensions:\\n\"";			\
> +	   echo -n "\"Available extensions:\\";			\
> +	   echo "n\"";						\

+	   printf '"Available extensions:\\n"\n';		\

(Sorry I haven't had time to construct a proper patch, but this should
get the gist across.)

Cheers,

-- 
Colin Watson                                  [cjwatson@flatline.org.uk]