Re: [PATCH] bootstrap: remove the need for a sorted .gitignore

[Jim Meyering]

Stefano Lattarini wrote:
> Throwing in my two cents here ...
...

Thanks.

>> $(...) is not supported by even some modern systems, including solaris 10.
>>
> Actually, only by /bin/sh.  Solaris 10 has a working Korn shell in
> /bin/ksh and a working POSIX shell in /usr/xpg4/bin/sh.  Requiring
> a developer to use them to run the bootstrap doesn't seem a harsh
> requirement to me.
>
>> Better to use `...`, although this problem is rampant in bootstrap too, so
>> not the fault of this patch... even so, that's no reason to compound the
>> error.
>>
> I think that, at least in maintainer-specific scripts, we should move
> away from old Bourne shell idioms and just require a POSIX shell, as
> of *now*.

I agree, wholeheartedly.
That is precisely why I've insisted on using $(...)
and not `...` in bootstrap.

> Autoconf-generated configure scripts should follow suite (but
> changing Autoconf internals in that direction won't be trivial, so that
> will likely take more time).

I'm looking forward to that, and the resulting
cleaner/smaller configure scripts.

...
>> so it would be safer to probe for
>> and use a backslash safe echo here
>>
> Much better would be to just use printf.  Safer, simpler and more portable!

Yes.  For uses like this, echo has been deprecated
for well over a decade.