Re: My script almost works but spams the terminal its launched from if useing dash.
On Monday 18 April 2016 09:49:29 David Wright wrote:
> On Sun 17 Apr 2016 at 00:41:03 (-0400), Gene Heskett wrote:
> > On Saturday 16 April 2016 22:18:34 David Wright wrote:
> > > On Sat 16 Apr 2016 at 19:06:42 (-0400), Gene Heskett wrote:
> > > > On Saturday 16 April 2016 14:02:16 Thomas Schmitt wrote:
> > > > > Gene Heskett wrote:
> > > > > > There are too many places where a conditional would be
> > > > > > needed
> > > > >
> > > > > The classic way is to use only gestures which are supported by
> > > > > the Bourne shell and to avoid certain peculiarities of some
> > > > > shells. In ./configure scripts of source packages one can see
> > > > > gestures like
> > > > >
> > > > > if test "x${InMail}" = xgene
> > > > >
> > > > > which avoids to compare empty variable content.
> > > >
> > > > In normal everyday operation, the variable ${InMail} will not be
> > > > empty.
> > >
> > > That may or may not be a useful observation. However, sod's law
> > > dictates that when it *is* empty, it'll be in five years time when
> > > you've forgotten how and why you converted your script, and you
> > > desparately need it to work _now_.
> >
> > Each new incoming email is another pass thru the loop. There are 3
> > possible names for the mailfile itself as procmail determines that.
>
> Which nicely illustrates the point of defensive programming.
> It's not *your* script that will necessarily make the first mistake,
> but you don't want procmail's unexpected input to derail your script
> and produce a cascade of errors. Let's face it, shell error messages
> are not the easiest to decode: that was the reason for your OP.
>
> And pointing out how your procmail system can't get it wrong is no
> defence. If you're using an unsafe test in one place, it's likely
> there are other ones in your scripts (assuming this isn't the only
> script you have).
>
> Cheers,
> David.
Observant, David. Its not the only one but the others are cron jobs, and
re-arranging the 2>&1 to be the last argument has truly shut this one
up. 18+ hours and a hundred or more incoming emails later, and I am
still looking at the shell prompt in the window I restarted it in. Life
is good, its truly backgrounded for good.
Thank you.
Cheers, Gene Heskett
--
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>
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