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Re: Problem installing coreutils-5.2.1 over the same prefix
From: |
Paul Eggert |
Subject: |
Re: Problem installing coreutils-5.2.1 over the same prefix |
Date: |
Thu, 01 Apr 2004 17:54:57 -0800 |
User-agent: |
Gnus/5.1006 (Gnus v5.10.6) Emacs/21.3 (gnu/linux) |
Alexandre Duret-Lutz <address@hidden> writes:
> Could you install your change on both HEAD and branch-1-8?
OK, done.
> Paul> + # perhaps because mv is so ancient that it does not
> Paul> + # support -f.
>
> Does such ancient `mv' really exist?
"mv -f" was not in 7th Edition Unix (in fact, the lack of -f is listed
under BUGS in the mv man page). I vaguely recall running into old
systems that lacked mv -f back in the 1980s. I'd be surprised to see
such a system in use today. I put that comment in "just to be safe".
> The autoconf manual claims that `mv -f' is portable
I couldn't find that claim with a quick search of the CVS version of
the Autoconf manual. Perhaps I didn't use the right regexp.
> It's used in some Automake rules
I'd say it's safe these days.
> and also right after this comment in the script:
Yes. Possibly that workaround (which is executed only rarely) has
never been run on an ancient system lacking mv -f.