bug#59469: closed (29.0.50; Eshell "for" loop: Calling a non-lisp command (example: /usr/bin/tail) sets the variable exported in the {} block of "for var in list {}" to nil)

[GNU bug Tracking System]

Your message dated Thu, 9 Feb 2023 21:44:15 -0800
with message-id <fb8f8c86-fd74-d53b-2d5a-fba94b6dae4c@gmail.com>
and subject line Re: bug#59469: 29.0.50; Eshell "for" loop: Calling a non-lisp 
command (example: /usr/bin/tail) sets the variable exported in the {} block of 
"for var in list {}" to nil (was: Adding a simpler duplication of the issue)
has caused the debbugs.gnu.org bug report #59469,
regarding 29.0.50; Eshell "for" loop: Calling a non-lisp command (example: 
/usr/bin/tail) sets the variable exported in the {} block of "for var in list 
{}" to nil
to be marked as done.

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59469: https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=59469
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--- Begin Message --- Subject: 29.0.50; Eshell "for" loop: Calling a non-lisp command (example: /usr/bin/tail) sets the variable exported in the {} block of "for var in list {}" to nil Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2022 21:04:51 -0500

Hi,

I might be doing something wrong, but it appears that calling any non-lisp command  (example: /usr/bin/tail) causes the variable set in the {} block of "for var in list {}" to change to nil.

To duplicate, please create a file "bug.txt" in ~tmp,

   echo "line one" > ~/tmp/bug.txt

then run the following code -

In the code below, *please replace my full path "/home/mzimmermann/tmp/bug.txt" with your full path. There seems to be an unrelated issue trying to list ~/tmp/bug.txt*

  for file in (list "/home/mzimmermann/tmp/bug.txt") {
                  type-of $file
                  echo "file=$file";
                  # Create a variable. The back and forth between .log and .txt is
                  # only there to simulate some useful work to set value of samefile
                  export samefile="${echo $file(:s/.txt/.log/)}"(:s/.log/.txt/);
                  echo "samefile=$samefile"
                  # Note that on my system, 'which tail' ==> /usr/bin/tail
                  tail $file
                  # Note that on my system, 'which cat' ==> eshell/cat is a byte-compiled Lisp function in ‘em-unix.el’.
                  # cat $file
                  echo "samefile=$samefile"
                  echo "file=$file";
              }

Actual result:

================
string
file=/home/mzimmermann/tmp/bug.txt
samefile=/home/mzimmermann/tmp/bug.txt
line one
samefile=nil
file=/home/mzimmermann/tmp/bug.txt
================

Please *note how the contents of samefile is nullified. This is the bug I am reporting here*

Expected result:
================
string
file=/home/mzimmermann/tmp/bug.txt
samefile=/home/mzimmermann/tmp/bug.txt
line one
samefile=/home/mzimmermann/tmp/bug.txt
file=/home/mzimmermann/tmp/bug.txt
================

Notes:

1. I tried this with other non-lisp functions (/usr/bin/gzip) and it caused the same issue.

2. If we use "cat" which is an elisp function, the loop works as expected.

Thanks, 

Milan Zimmermann

--- End Message ---

> --- Begin Message ---
>
>
>
> Subject: 
>
> Re: bug#59469: 29.0.50; Eshell "for" loop: Calling a non-lisp command (example: /usr/bin/tail) sets the variable exported in the {} block of "for var in list {}" to nil (was: Adding a simpler duplication of the issue)
>
>
>
>
> Date: 
>
> Thu, 9 Feb 2023 21:44:15 -0800
>
>
>
>
> On 1/28/2023 10:55 PM, Jim Porter wrote:
> > Here's an updated patch with an improved comment introducing Eshell's 
> > iterative evaluation. Hopefully the added detail will help anyone else 
> > who looks into this code (assuming I haven't replaced it with threads or 
> > generator.el's CPS machinery by then, of course!).
>
> Merged as c53255f677. Closing this bug now.
>
>
> --- End Message ---