On Mon, Apr 1, 2024, at 5:26 PM, Frank Ch. Eigler wrote: > On Mon, Apr 01, 2024 at 05:10:17PM -0400, Paul Eggert wrote: >> [...] >> Not sure I'd go that far. The >> [https://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/Utilities-in-Makefiles.html GNU >> Coding Standards for utilities in makefiles] lists the following as usable >> without further ado: >> >> awk cat cmp cp diff echo egrep expr false grep install-info ln ls >> mkdir mv printf pwd rm rmdir sed sleep sort tar test touch tr true >> [...] > > On the other hand, we've had very real reports that e.g. diff was > missing on some real platforms, which led autoconf astray and ended up > in misconfigured build trees. Perhaps autoconf can afford to do some > sanity checking on these reasonable-sounding but not-universal > expectations.
Frank, do you have details of those real platforms with missing diff? As I wrote in <https://savannah.gnu.org/support/index.php?111044>, it's difficult to implement this kind of sanity check without access to an environment that *fails* this kind of sanity check. I could set one up myself but I wouldn't know if I had picked the right things to leave out. zw
