söndag den 26 februari 2012 klockan 16:07 skrev Alfred M. Szmidt detta: > > > Keep up the good work Mats! > > > > > > +# Prerequisites: > > > +# > > > +# * Shell: SVR4 Bourne shell, or newer. > > > +# > > > +# * cat(1), expr(1), head(1), kill(1), pwd(1), rm(1). > > > +# > > > +# * id(1), grep(1), mktemp(1), ps(1). > > > > > > Is there a reason for these type of comments? I don't see why > > > this is useful. > > > > Mostly to give a hint to any external tester, in a hope that he or > > she takes a look at the failing script before filing a bug. > > > > Wouldn't it be better then to check for this in configure.ac? Or > > at least assume the same tools as we use in the Makefiles (awk, > > cat, cmp, cp, diff, echo, egrep, expr, false, grep, install-info, > > ln, ls, mkdir, mv, printf, pwd, rm, rmdir, sed, sleep, sort, tar, > > test, touch, tr, true) and only list what is needed over that? > > This is a good point. I have a patch set pending to get rid of > head(1), ps(1), and wc(1), as a starter, so the prerequisite list > you gave as illustration will shrink to "kill(1), id(1), > mktemp(1)". This will improve transparency. > > The list above is from the GNU Coding Standards, if you are curious > where I got it. > > Are tests in "configure.ac" intended to cover actions in excess of > configuration and build steps? Personally, I view tests as optional > secondary steps for which I do not like the configuration step to > erect any blockers, instead warnings at most. The effort to keep > requisites of tests ajour also in "configure.ac" is slightly more > than we should take upon ourselves. > > I was thinking of having configure.ac test for needed programs, and > provide a variable that can be used in the test scripts. For example, > if we need kill we could look for that, check that it `behaves' as > we'd like, and then simply provide a $(KILL) variable that can be used > in the test suite. And if said variable is not defined, we skip the > test, and notify the user. The configure check should of course not > cause an error.
Yes, please! I have begun thinking how I could let the user override grep and sed, in particular, so your sketch does exactly what I want. Best regards, Mats
