Re: 'kill -l' outputs SIG prefix if job control not compiled in

[Chet Ramey]

On 11/4/16 6:30 PM, Martijn Dekker wrote:
> Normal bash:
> 
> $ kill -l 141
> PIPE
> 
> Bash compiled with --enable-minimal-config --enable-alias:
> 
> $ kill -l 141
> SIGPIPE
> 
> That SIG prefix shouldn't be there. (Enabling POSIX mode makes no
> difference to the output.)

Bash's minimal configuration chose to keep output the same as historical
versions of sh.  While the 7th edition sh omitted the SIG prefix, the
System V versions, including SVR4.2 (the most recent I have access to)
include it.

> 
> A look at the source tells me that, for some reason, the POSIXly correct
> output of 'kill -l' was made dependent on job control being compiled in.
> I don't see any reason for that, so unless I'm missing something, the
> attached patch should fix it.

I assume that the Posix 1992 version made both kill -l and job control
part of the XSI portion of the standard.  I don't have access to that
printed copy right now, so I can only speculate.

In any case, there's no reason to not fix this now.

-- 
``The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.'' - Chaucer
                 ``Ars longa, vita brevis'' - Hippocrates
Chet Ramey, UTech, CWRU    chet@case.edu    http://cnswww.cns.cwru.edu/~chet/