Re: [PATCH 4/4] t6000lib: workaround a possible dash bug

From: Herbert Xu <herbert@gondor.apana.org.au>
Date: Sep 26, 2007, 08:41 UTC
Message-ID: <20070926084144.GA11582@gondor.apana.org.au>
In-Reply-To: <20070921204511.GA10079@muzzle>

On Fri, Sep 21, 2007 at 01:45:11PM -0700, Eric Wong wrote:

Show 5 quoted lines

>
> I tried to reproduce it on a quick script using shell functions,
> multiple arguments, spaces in the $a variable.., but haven't
> been successful.  However, reverting the below patch still
> causes errors in the latest git test suite.

Ah I see, it's a function. Unfortunately POSIX requires shell functions to have the variable assignment properties of special built-ins. So

	X=value func

has the same properties as

	X=value :

In other words, the value assigned to X (and any subsequent values assigned within the function) persists after the call. Also, the variable X is not exported unless it's already been exported.

This is pretty lame but it's how the original Korn shell did things and POSIX has adopted that. Bash's POSIX mode tries to balance things by both making the value persist and exporting X. Unfortunately this is buggy too as it causes X to continue to be exported after the function returns.

So the bottom-line is that your patch is the correct solution after all :)

Cheers,

-- 
Visit Openswan at http://www.openswan.org/
Email: Herbert Xu ~{PmV>HI~} <herbert@gondor.apana.org.au>
Home Page: http://gondor.apana.org.au/~herbert/
PGP Key: http://gondor.apana.org.au/~herbert/pubkey.txt