Re: AM_PROG_MKDIR_P overcautious?

[Stepan Kasal]

Hello,

regarding the bug report about `mkdir -p -- .', archived at:
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-automake/2004-07/msg00052.html

I think that the problem described here is a bug in a vendor mkdir.
Generally, mkdir -p on any existing directory should succeed, no matter
whether it is writable or not.

I asked Harlan Stenn, the author of the bug report, about the details,
but he doesn't remember.

I set up an environment similar to what is described in the report:
nfs mount, with the root_squash option.  Then I tried

mkdir -p . && mkdir -p existing && (cd existing; mkdir -p .) && echo ok

using these versions:

mkdir (coreutils) 4.5.3
mkdir - GNU fileutils-3.13

Both versions succeeded.  Thus I think that Harln was using (a tarball
generated with) Automake <= 1.8.2, which used any `mkdir -p'.

Since we restrict ourselves to GNU nkdir now, we can safely use
        mkdir -p -- .

Attached please find a patch to taht effect.  I verified that it passes
`make check'.

Have a nice day,
        Stepan Kasal

automake-20050729-mkdir_p.patch
Description: Text document