system call reliability

[Al Niessner]

I seem to be having a problem with the 'system' call. Here is part of my
.octaverc file:

[ OS SERR ] = system("OS=`uname -s` ; printf %s ${OS}")
[ MACHINE SERR ] = system("MACH=`uname -m` ; printf %s ${MACH}")
LOADPATH = [
"/home/niessner/Octave//:/home/niessner/Release/OctaveExtensions/"
OCTAVE_VERSION "/" OS "-" MACHINE "/:" ];

(ignore some the new-lines as that is my email editor that insists on
putting them in there for netiquette.)

So, sometimes I get this:
OS = Linux
SERR = 0
MACHINE =
SERR = 0

Sometimes:
OS =
SERR = 0
MACHINE = x86_64
SERR = 0

Lastly, sometimes I get what I want:
OS = Linux
SERR = 0
MACHINE = x86_64
SERR = 0

Now, where should I begin to look for this problem? If I compile octave
with -ggdb -O0, then it never fails. Is this a race condition and creeps
in on my dual processor? Oh, and this happens on octave versions 44, 49,
52, and 57.

-- 
Al Niessner <address@hidden>
Jet Propulsion Laboratory

All opinions stated above are mine and do not necessarily reflect 
those of JPL or NASA.

 ----
| dS | >= 0
 ----



-------------------------------------------------------------
Octave is freely available under the terms of the GNU GPL.

Octave's home on the web:  http://www.octave.org
How to fund new projects:  http://www.octave.org/funding.html
Subscription information:  http://www.octave.org/archive.html
-------------------------------------------------------------