Bug#785085: marked as done (mksh: Misleading note in manpage about equality test)
Your message dated Tue, 12 May 2015 08:02:16 +0000 (UTC)
with message-id <Pine.BSM.4.64L.1505120800370.31736@herc.mirbsd.org>
and subject line Re: Bug#785085: mksh: Misleading note in manpage about equality test
has caused the Debian Bug report #785085,
regarding mksh: Misleading note in manpage about equality test
to be marked as done.
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If this is not the case it is now your responsibility to reopen the
Bug report if necessary, and/or fix the problem forthwith.
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--
785085: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=785085
Debian Bug Tracking System
Contact owner@bugs.debian.org with problems
--- Begin Message ---
Package: mksh
Version: 50d-5
Severity: minor
Dear Maintainer,
here is a note in manpage about [ $foo = bar ] equality test:
$ MANWIDTH=78 LC_ALL=C man mksh 2>>/dev/null <&2 | grep -A5 'A common mistake is to use'
Note: A common mistake is to use ``if [ $foo = bar ]'' which
fails if parameter ``foo'' is NULL or unset, if it has embedded
spaces (i.e. IFS octets), or if it is a unary operator like '!'
or '-n'. Use tests like ``if [ x"$foo" = x"bar" ]'' instead, or
the double-bracket operator ``if [[ $foo = bar ]]'' or, to avoid
pattern matching (see [[ above): ``if [[ $foo = "$bar" ]]''
the proposed [ x"$foo" = x"bar" ] is correct but with redundant x character;
this x looks odd and attracts attention, while proper quotation is the point
in order to make it clear it should be something like [ "$foo" = bar ]
-- System Information:
Debian Release: stretch/sid
APT prefers unstable
APT policy: (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'testing'), (500, 'stable'), (1, 'experimental')
Architecture: armhf (armv7l)
Foreign Architectures: armel
Kernel: Linux 3.0.35-ygrex-fx6-6.3+ (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
Versions of packages mksh depends on:
ii libc6 2.19-18
mksh recommends no packages.
Versions of packages mksh suggests:
ii ed 1.10-2
-- no debconf information
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
ygrex@ygrex.ru dixit:
>the proposed [ x"$foo" = x"bar" ] is correct but with redundant x character;
No, this is the recommended form from the GNU Autoconf manual,
section Portable Shell, because some nōn- or old-POSIX shells
require the ‘x’. So this is a portable shell advice, which is
admittedly overzealous in the face of contemporary POSIX sh –
but, as we all know, we have to deal with older shells in the
real life, so this stays.
bye,
//mirabilos
PS: Cosmetic issues like this one are “wishlist”, at best.
--
„Cool, /usr/share/doc/mksh/examples/uhr.gz ist ja ein Grund,
mksh auf jedem System zu installieren.“
-- XTaran auf der OpenRheinRuhr, ganz begeistert
(EN: “[…]uhr.gz is a reason to install mksh on every system.”)
--- End Message ---
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