[SCM] GNU Autoconf source repository branch, master, updated. v2.63-173-g3063ce9

[Eric Blake]

This is an automated email from the git hooks/post-receive script. It was
generated because a ref change was pushed to the repository containing
the project "GNU Autoconf source repository".

http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=autoconf.git;a=commitdiff;h=3063ce9fd4abf81682ea97eafd0ae5b487fa62fb

The branch, master has been updated
       via  3063ce9fd4abf81682ea97eafd0ae5b487fa62fb (commit)
      from  5544cc87ec812c2284bc7846849f34b712317fba (commit)

Those revisions listed above that are new to this repository have
not appeared on any other notification email; so we list those
revisions in full, below.

- Log -----------------------------------------------------------------
commit 3063ce9fd4abf81682ea97eafd0ae5b487fa62fb
Author: Eric Blake <address@hidden>
Date:   Fri Nov 7 14:03:21 2008 -0700

    Provide a section on all tools allowed in GNU Coding Standards.
    
    * doc/autoconf.texi (Limitations of Builtins) <read>: Sort.
    <wait>: Add section.
    (Limitations of Usual Tools) <awk>: Make table entry consistent.
    <chgrp, mkfifo, rmdir, sleep, sort, tar> Add sections.
    
    Signed-off-by: Eric Blake <address@hidden>

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Summary of changes:
 ChangeLog         |    8 +++++
 doc/autoconf.texi |   80 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------
 2 files changed, 79 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index a2ca703..5ddd2f7 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+2008-11-10  Eric Blake  <address@hidden>
+
+       Provide a section on all tools allowed in GNU Coding Standards.
+       * doc/autoconf.texi (Limitations of Builtins) <read>: Sort.
+       <wait>: Add section.
+       (Limitations of Usual Tools) <awk>: Make table entry consistent.
+       <chgrp, mkfifo, rmdir, sleep, sort, tar> Add sections.
+
 2008-11-09  Paolo Bonzini  <address@hidden>
 
        Balance parentheses in _AC_CACHE_DUMP.
diff --git a/doc/autoconf.texi b/doc/autoconf.texi
index 14f891e..f59be60 100644
--- a/doc/autoconf.texi
+++ b/doc/autoconf.texi
@@ -14710,6 +14710,8 @@ often possible to avoid this problem using @samp{echo 
"x$word"}, taking
 the @samp{x} into account later in the pipe.  Many of these limitations
 can be worked around using M4sh (@pxref{Programming in M4sh}).
 
address@hidden This table includes things like address@hidden (files)', so we 
can't
address@hidden use @table @command.
 @table @asis
 @item @command{.}
 @c --------------
@@ -15290,12 +15292,6 @@ example, @file{/usr/bin/printf} is buggy, so when using
 core.
 
 
address@hidden @command{read}
address@hidden ------------------
address@hidden @command{read}
-Not all shells support @option{-r} (Solaris @command{/bin/sh} for example).
-
-
 @item @command{pwd}
 @c ----------------
 @prindex @command{pwd}
@@ -15334,6 +15330,13 @@ reason.
 Also please see the discussion of the @command{cd} command.
 
 
address@hidden @command{read}
address@hidden -----------------
address@hidden @command{read}
+No options are portable, not even support @option{-r} (Solaris
address@hidden/bin/sh} for example).
+
+
 @item @command{set}
 @c ----------------
 @prindex @command{set}
@@ -15635,6 +15638,11 @@ something like
 @xref{Special Shell Variables}, for some neutralizing values.  Also, see
 @ref{Limitations of Builtins}, documentation of @command{export}, for
 the case of environment variables.
+
address@hidden @command{wait}
address@hidden -----------------
address@hidden @command{wait}
+The exit status of @command{wait} is not always reliable.
 @end table
 
 @node Limitations of Usual Tools
@@ -15644,10 +15652,16 @@ the case of environment variables.
 The small set of tools you can expect to find on any machine can still
 include some limitations you should be aware of.
 
address@hidden Between this list and the list of builtins above, we should
address@hidden mention all the tools in GNU Coding Standards ``Utilities in
address@hidden Makefiles''.
+
address@hidden This table includes things like address@hidden (|)', so we can't
address@hidden use @table @command.
 @table @asis
address@hidden Awk
address@hidden ------
address@hidden Awk
address@hidden @command{awk}
address@hidden ----------------
address@hidden @command{awk}
 Don't leave white space before the opening parenthesis in a user function call.
 Posix does not allow this and @acronym{GNU} Awk rejects it:
 
@@ -15857,6 +15871,13 @@ practice.  Typically the C compiler is invoked from 
makefiles that use
 @samp{$(CC)}, so the value of the @samp{CC} make variable selects the
 compiler name.
 
address@hidden @command{chgrp}
address@hidden @command{chown}
address@hidden -------------------
address@hidden @command{chgrp}
address@hidden @command{chown}
+It is not portable to change a file's group to a group that the owner
+does not belong to.
 
 @item @command{chmod}
 @c ------------------
@@ -16333,6 +16354,20 @@ recent enough; the copy shipped with Autoconf 2.60 and 
Automake 1.10 is
 OK, but copies from older versions are vulnerable.
 
 
address@hidden @command{mkfifo}
address@hidden @command{mknod}
address@hidden -------------------
address@hidden @command{mkfifo}
address@hidden @command{mknod}
+The GNU Coding Standards state that @command{mknod} is safe to use on
+platforms where it has been tested to exist; but it is generally portable
+only for creating named FIFOs, since device numbers are
+platform-specific.  Autotest uses @command{mkfifo} to implement parallel
+testsuites.  Posix states that behavior is unspecified when opening a
+named FIFO for both reading and writing; on at least Cygwin, this
+results in failure on any attempt to read or write to that file
+descriptor.
+
 @item @command{mktemp}
 @c -------------------
 @prindex @command{mktemp}
@@ -16436,6 +16471,11 @@ executed.
 support commands like @samp{rm foo >foo}, even though this is
 perfectly portable among Posix hosts.
 
address@hidden @command{rmdir}
address@hidden ------------------
address@hidden @command{rmdir}
+Just as with @command{rm}, some platforms refuse to remove a working
+directory.
 
 @item @command{sed}
 @c ----------------
@@ -16682,6 +16722,28 @@ s/.*/deleted/g
 :end
 @end example
 
address@hidden @command{sleep}
address@hidden ------------------
address@hidden @command{sleep}
+Using @command{sleep} is generally portable.  However, remember that
+adding a @command{sleep} to work around timestamp issues, with a minimum
+granularity of one second, doesn't scale well for parallel builds on
+modern machines with sub-second process completion.
+
address@hidden @command{sort}
address@hidden -----------------
address@hidden @command{sort}
+Remember that sort order is influenced by the current locale.  Inside
address@hidden, the C locale is in effect, but in Makefile snippets,
+you may need to specify @code{LC_ALL=C sort}.
+
address@hidden @command{tar}
address@hidden ----------------
address@hidden @command{tar}
+There are multiple file formats for @command{tar}; if you use Automake,
+the macro @code{AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE} has some options controlling which
+level of portability to use.
+
 @item @command{touch}
 @c ------------------
 @prindex @command{touch}


hooks/post-receive
--
GNU Autoconf source repository