(I'm not sure where to send this, but it's of interest for making packages containing shell scripts policy-compliant, which I'm currently trying to do, so...)
bash and dash differ in their handling of variable assignments. To wit: bash$ FOO=$(false) || echo failed failed dash$ FOO=$(false) && echo worked worked I'm not sure which is correct. I've looked at the bash and dash manpages, and SUSv2 at opengroup.org (unfortunately, I can't find a copy of POSIX 1003.2 online--- either my Google skills are rusty, or you have to pay for it), and they seem to be pretty much in agreement about how simple commands are parsed, but don't say anything about what the exit status of a simple command that doesn't actually have any commands in it is. Am I missing something? If the answer is no, and there really is nothing specified here in the standard, then I assume it's OK to file bugs on any package[1] using #!/bin/sh that depends on bash's current behavior of propagating the exit status of the last command ran while expanding values for variable assignments in a simple command containing nothing else (i.e. one affecting the current shell environment). [1] No, I'm not going to mass-file anything, I'm just curious. I'm about to fix the one script where this bit me anyway, and then get back to Christmas shopping. -- things change. [EMAIL PROTECTED]
