* doc/autoconf.texi (Special Shell Variables) <POSIXLY_CORRECT>:
Document bash behavior.
Reported by Dustin J. Mitchell, via bug-gnulib list.
Signed-off-by: Eric Blake <ebl...@redhat.com>
---
> Aha - bash itself is setting POSIXLY_CORRECT as a local variable upon
> 'set -o posix'; and /bin/sh (as bash) runs with 'set -o posix' already
> specified.
What's more - blindly exporting it based on whether it is set, or
blindly unsetting it, can have negative repurcussions on the rest
of an autoconf-generated script. I'm pushing this to autoconf:
ChangeLog | 5 +++++
doc/autoconf.texi | 17 +++++++++++++++++
2 files changed, 22 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index d43f681..5ee342f 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
2010-09-07 Eric Blake <ebl...@redhat.com>
+ docs: mention bash vs. POSIXLY_CORRECT
+ * doc/autoconf.texi (Special Shell Variables) <POSIXLY_CORRECT>:
+ Document bash behavior.
+ Reported by Dustin J. Mitchell, via bug-gnulib list.
+
docs: enhance recommendations on test usage
* doc/autoconf.texi (Limitations of Builtins) <test (strings)>:
Mention yet another Solaris issue.
diff --git a/doc/autoconf.texi b/doc/autoconf.texi
index 4d62bf3..308fdf0 100644
--- a/doc/autoconf.texi
+++ b/doc/autoconf.texi
@@ -16416,6 +16416,23 @@ Special Shell Variables
if you plan to use non-Posix shells to execute files. @xref{File System
Conventions}, for more information about @code{PATH_SEPARATOR}.
+...@item POSIXLY_CORRECT
+...@evindex POSIXLY_CORRECT
+In the GNU environment, exporting @env{POSIXLY_CORRECT} with any value
+(even empty) causes programs to try harder to conform to Posix.
+Autoconf does not directly manipulate this variable, but @command{bash}
+ties the shell variable @env{POSIXLY_CORRECT} to whether the script is
+running in Posix mode. Therefore, take care when exporting or unsetting
+this variable, so as not to change whether @command{bash} is in Posix mode.
+
+...@example
+$ @kbd{bash --posix -c 'set -o | grep posix}
+> @kbd{unset POSIXLY_CORRECT}
+> @kbd{set -o | grep posix'}
+posix on
+posix off
+...@end example
+
@item PWD
@evindex PWD
Posix 1003.1-2001 requires that @command{cd} and
--
1.7.2.2
