Re: random number generator

[Eric Blake]

On 08/18/2010 11:25 AM, mikeyzman wrote:
> 
> Im having trouble generating random numbers with M4.  I found a thread on the
> subject but the recommended defs do not work
> 
>>> m4 lacks a random number generator builtin. I think it would be great if
> such builtin existed. Currently I use something like:
> dnl random(num): Evaluates to a random number from range 0..num-1.
> define([random],[eval(esyscmd(printf $RANDOM) % $1)])dnl

What is your /bin/sh?  $RANDOM is a bash extension, and if your /bin/sh
is dash, that would explain why you are not passing any argument to
printf.  You can modify your esyscmd to force bash:

esyscmd([/bin/bash -c 'printf "$RANDOM"'])

-- 
Eric Blake   address@hidden    +1-801-349-2682
Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org

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