Bug#288182: Why do we not reset IFS? (was: Bug#288182: tetex-bin postinst fails when calling fmtutil)

[Julian Gilbey <jdg@polya.uklinux.net>]

On Tue, Jan 11, 2005 at 02:23:39PM +0100, Frank K?ster wrote:
> Now for the real problem. In tetex-bin's postinst, we have:
> 
>   OIFS='$IFS'
>   IFS=' ,'
>   lang="$RET"
>   for l in $lang; do
> [...]
>   done
> #  IFS='$OIFS'
> 
> [...]
> 
> | - don't restore IFS setting, this gave strange effects
> 
> Unfortunately, I couldn't find on the list what those "strange effects"
> would be. Does anybody remember what the reason was?

Would changing the first and last lines to

OIFS="$IFS"
...
IFS="$OIFS"

using double-quote marks solve the problems?  I assume it would!

   Julian