On Tue 22 Sep 2020 at 13:31:33 (-0400), Gary Dale wrote: > On 2020-09-22 09:29, David Wright wrote: > > On Mon 21 Sep 2020 at 20:50:29 (-0400), Gary Dale wrote: > > > On 2020-09-21 10:30, David Wright wrote:
> > > > I think we should apply Hanlon's razor rather than saying the OP lied. > > > > After all, "compare" means diff or cmp to us, whereas many might just > > > > use their eyeballs. And we all know that authors are the worst people > > > > to check their own work. Proof-reading is a special skill. > > > > > > > > Even their fix is poorly described. Did they just type the quotes back > > > > in with an editor, in which case there's no guarantee that the scripts > > > > are identical between machines, or did they transfer a working script > > > > to the failing machine? The best line is save until last: "I certainly > > > > didn't update anything on either server...". Well, yes, that's > > > > *precisely* what you did: you updated the script. > > ↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑ > > > You are taking my quote out of context. I didn't change anything on > > > the server to make the script start working. I updated the script to > > ↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑ > > > see if it would work after trying Greg's test. There were no program > > > or setting updates on the server, and certainly nothing that updated > > > dash. This is Debian/Stable we're talking about, after all. > > Sorry, I thought you wrote that on Sunday afternoon, "I fixed it by > > removing the quotes on the one server but now the scripts are > > different between the two servers, which isn't what I want." > > Then on Sunday evening, you wrote "When I retried my script with the > > quotes, it started working." > > > > The general opinion is that the script was faulty, probably in the > > quotes used. The narrative says that you removed the quotes, and > > later put them back. It seems fair to suggest that the quotes you > > put back were not the same ones that you removed. They were replaced > > in the same location, but you didn't put the old (removed) quotes > > into a little two-character file, so that you could put precisely > > the same ones back into the script, did you? > I thought about that but then there would be no way I could > demonstrate it other than what I did - post the offending line via cut > & paste, a method people have been arguing can change the quotes. > > > > > Since it is a file server, there probably were changes to the files on > > > its shares, but I'd hardly count that as an "update". Similarly, it > > > was running cron jobs for backups and virus scans (unsuccessfully) but > > > again I wouldn't call those "updates". > > Nor I. No, I'm only talking about your script. Does it bear any > > relation to the one posted in your blog? The first line (after > > the shebang) of the one in the blog is the same line that's under > > discussion here, and has curly quotes. I can't parse the second > > line's curly quotes, and the fourth line uses an n-dash for a > > hyphen *though the other hyphens are ok). The fifth line uses > > curly single-quotes. More curly quotes follow. > > > > I don't see any cause for our wasting time pondering on dash > > without your posting an MWE that unambiguously demonstrates a > > problem. > Yes, that's the script - copy-pasted from the working server then with > the e-mail addresses changed (they are actually parameters to the > working script, but why complicate things when explaining a basic > script). As you noted, it has changed things - hopefully not to the > point that people won't be able to make it work. I haven't found a way > to stop Wordpress from doing the substitution but I note the raw text > is still correct (once you remove the html). That I can believe. The substitutions appear to be systematic, <non-space><quote> → 99-style, and <space><quote> → 66-style, -- → n-dash, --- → m-dash; I think that covers it. And that might be something you cannot change: I see it converts your apostrophes in running text too. But I don't see why you can't post emails with unadulterated characters. You can obviously read and copy the working script yourself, so you can at least paste it into a file on your email computer, using cat >file if necessary¹, and then InsertFile the file into your email composer. Your running text has ASCII quotes, after all. That should avoid any problem like https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2020/09/msg00677.html where your script fragment *still* has curly quotes but your speech marks are ASCII. I think it's reasonable, when you're reporting non-identical behaviour from supposedly identical systems, to expect some demonstration that the test cases and the reporting thereof are, in fact, using identical scripts before eliminating them from consideration. ¹ Run md5sum, as suggested earlier, on this file, the servers' scripts, and any cut-down versions, to demonstrate they're all the same. This avoids transferring files. Cheers, David.