From: Bruno Haible <bruno@clisp.org>
To: Pavel Raiskup <praiskup@redhat.com>
Cc: bug-gnulib@gnu.org
Subject: Re: shell variable references - coding style
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2019 19:02:08 +0100 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <2794770.VEEVdL9LWF@omega> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <33012288.smD7kdOuTz@raiskup>
Hi Pavel,
> > [...]
> > This patch fixes both issues, and makes the IFS handling a bit more robust.
> > [...]
>
> > - case $_fpf_arg in
> > + case "$_fpf_arg" in
> > [...]
> > - fpf_dirs=$1 ; shift
> > - fpf_cb=$1 ; shift
> > + fpf_dirs="$1"; shift
> > + fpf_cb="$1"; shift
> > [...]
>
> ... and so on, I don't think it is more robust. At least according to
> Autoconf's Shellology [1] it should be actually better to write it the
> other way around (without additional quotes).
I do think it is more robust, because
* The number one mistake in shell scripts (measured by frequency of
occurrence) is to reference variables without double quotes when word
splitting is in fact undesired.
* Simple rules are easier to follow by programmers, resulting in fewer bugs.
* The rule
"Always double-quote shell variable references, except if you DO
want word-splitting."
is simpler than
"Always double-quote shell variable references, except if you DO
want word-splitting OR in the right-hand side of assignments OR
as argument of 'case' statements."
The text that you quote says two different things:
* Backquotes inside double-quotes are hairy.
There is a simple rule to avoid them: When you have a backquote
expression, always first assign its result to a variable. Then use
the variable (with double-quotes, usually).
* Bash 4.1 has a bug when you WANT word splitting.
These two things don't make my style rule
"Always double-quote shell variable references, except if you DO
want word-splitting."
less robust.
> FTR, Gary Vaughan has wrote a syntax checker rules for protecting us from
> adding such statements into libtool codebase.
Opinions regarding coding style differ. Gary is entitled to his opinion, as
much as I am entitled to mine.
Bruno
> [1] https://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/manual/autoconf-2.69/html_node/
> Shell-Substitutions.html
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2019-02-19 18:02 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 9+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2019-02-14 19:53 gnulib-tool: Improve handling of multiple --local-dir options Bruno Haible
2019-02-19 15:39 ` Pavel Raiskup
2019-02-19 18:02 ` Bruno Haible [this message]
2019-02-19 19:41 ` shell variable references - coding style Jim Meyering
2019-03-13 12:46 ` Pavel Raiskup
2019-03-13 17:15 ` Paul Eggert
2019-03-13 19:04 ` Bruno Haible
2019-02-19 18:18 ` gnulib-tool: Improve handling of multiple --local-dir options Bruno Haible
2019-02-20 7:03 ` Pavel Raiskup
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