[Linux-ha-dev] multi-OS maintenance patch (fwd)

[David Lee]

On Wed, 21 Jan 2004, Horms wrote:

> On Tue, Jan 20, 2004 at 12:20:03PM +0000, David Lee wrote:
> > Did this suggested patch fall by the wayside?  Is it on someone's "to-do"
> > list for consideration?
>
> Looks good to me. My only question is if dirname is portable?

Thanks.  And a good question.

Firstly, my defence: "bootstrap" already uses "dirname".  (That may be a
weak defence but this next bit is jaw-droppingly feeble:  so my using it
in "ConfigureMe" is no worse.)

But secondly to the real question, for which I should hang my head in
shame for two reasons:

1. A couple of years ago, I was pushing for portability; now here I am
going potentially non-portable.

2. The thought had crossed my mind as I prepared the patch, and I
had ignored it.  I have just checked, and found that:
 (a) the GNU Coding Standards advise caution.  At one point they permit
 a list of permitted commands includes "basename" but not "dirname".
 (b) the expansion of "configure.in" into "configure" includes
 shell-script that mimics a "dirname", with an accompanying comment:
    "Not all systems have dirname"

So by all means feel free to adjust the patch as you feel necessary,
including replacing the "dirname" with the line of script from
"configure".  But that should probably also be accompanied by correcting
its usage in "ConfigureMe".

Thanks again.



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