> > grep vpopmail /etc/passwd | awk -F ":" '{print $6}'
> >
> > or
> >
> > grep vpopmail /etc/passwd | cut -d':' -f6I would think that cut would be more portable. However, every machine I've used has had some variant of awk installed too. You might want to consider using 'grep ^vpopmail' or even 'grep ^vpopmail:' rather than 'grep vpopmail' to ensure that you're only getting the 'vpopmail' user. (I have a server in which we've had to transparently migrate users who were set up under sendmail so we have users whose home directories are under the vpopmail directory. Nasty, I know.) The one catch is that I don't know if 'grep ^string' is supported in all versions of 'grep'. > > Reason I'm asking is I'm making some minor modifications to the Makefile > > for the chkuser patch and I want to make sure they're as absolutely > > portable as possible before releasing it to the masses. > > also, while on the topic of portability, I noticed that djb does not include > ANY variable substitutions (only backtick ` ` substitutions) in his Makefile. > I'm curious if this is also for portability reasons. Anyone aware of any > implementations of the 'make' program that don't understand variable > substitions in Makefiles, or any situations (lack of /bin/sh compatible > shell, perhaps?) that might make variable substitutions not possible? I don't know of any portability concerns in this regard. I wonder if this is just a design choice. Sincerely, Chris Ess System Administrator / CDTT (Certified Duct Tape Technician)
