Has bash ever had a change before that would break valid scripts?
Could the printf format change be settable by a variable or by an option like
the -e/-E in echo?
Is it necessary for bash printf to match C printf?
I suppose that it is already decided.
Could the bash printf implementation warn if the new %b is passed something
that doesn't look like a numeric string?
Does shellcheck track variables well enough to warn if the new %b is passed
something that doesn't look like a numeric string?
Regards, William
________________________________
From: coreutils-bounces+williambader=hotmail....@gnu.org
<coreutils-bounces+williambader=hotmail....@gnu.org> on behalf of Chet Ramey
<chet.ra...@case.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, September 5, 2023 4:44 PM
To: Dragan Simic <dsi...@manjaro.org>
Cc: chet.ra...@case.edu <chet.ra...@case.edu>; enh <e...@google.com>; Eric
Blake <ebl...@redhat.com>; Rob Landley <r...@landley.net>; coreutils@gnu.org
<coreutils@gnu.org>; bug-b...@gnu.org <bug-b...@gnu.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] printf: add %#s alias to %b
On 9/5/23 4:32 PM, Dragan Simic wrote:
> On 2023-09-05 22:25, Chet Ramey wrote:
>> On 9/5/23 3:58 PM, enh wrote:
>>> On Fri, Sep 1, 2023 at 6:59 AM Chet Ramey <chet.ra...@case.edu> wrote:
>>
>>>> I think you'll find that, regardless of its origins, there are more
>>>> scripts
>>>> using the %b specifier than you think.
>>>
>>> i'd personally never heard of printf(1) %b before this thread, but
>>> debian code search agrees with you:
>>
>> It's a POSIX invention dating from at least 1991 (P1003.2-D11).
>>
>> The POSIX guidance to use it as a portable way to replace SysV echo has
>> dated from the same time. It's a pretty big lift to suddenly invalidate
>> all that prior art. ("POSIX giveth, and POSIX taketh away.").
>
> Are there any official explanations why is the invalidation actually
> happening now?
https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bash/2023-08/msg00112.html
C23 is going to use %b to print binary literals.
--
``The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.'' - Chaucer
``Ars longa, vita brevis'' - Hippocrates
Chet Ramey, UTech, CWRU c...@case.edu http://tiswww.cwru.edu/~chet/
