Re: coreutils 6.9.92 fail to configure on *bsd

[Ralf Wildenhues]

Hi Jim,

* Jim Meyering wrote on Sun, Jan 13, 2008 at 02:57:43PM CET:
> Ralf Wildenhues <address@hidden> wrote:
> > Jim Meyering <jim <at> meyering.net> writes:
> >> +t=`sed -n '/^g''l_INCLUDE_EXCLUDE_PROG(.* [\[\(.*\)\]])/{s//\1/;s/,/ /gp
> >> +}' $c`
> >
> > That isn't POSIX compatible yet.  You need newlines right after '{'
> > and you cannot use ';' inside '{...}':
[...]

> Thanks for the suggestion.
> I've read the autoconf doc that suggests that, and even looked at the
> POSIX spec.  Even so, I considered using a ';' before the '}' rather
> than the newline, since it works with all *bsd and Solaris vendor seds
> that I've tried.
[...]
> So unless someone can point to a counterexample, I propose to
> say something to that effect in autoconf.texi.

I think that's tackling the wrong document.  If you think it's portable
and should be relied upon to remain portable, then POSIX should be
tightened.  If they choose not to for some reason, Autoconf can still
mention in the manual that reason, or that we don't know of any
problematic systems here yet.

Cheers,
Ralf