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List:       autoconf
Subject:    Re: config.sub/config.guess using nonportable $(...) substitutions
From:       Paul Eggert <eggert () cs ! ucla ! edu>
Date:       2021-03-09 20:26:03
Message-ID: 0478bfcf-83b6-0e2b-097d-71a782362ef2 () cs ! ucla ! edu
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On 3/9/21 11:09 AM, Karl Berry wrote:

> I fully disagree. (Along with, it seems, everyone else except
> you and Ben.)

Ben is the main person to convince here, since he's the maintainer.

I am a bit disenheartened to see that Ben hasn't sent any email to this 
list since he installed the change in question, back in November. If 
he's retired (which I hope not), we'll need to find a new maintainer 
whose lap we can dump this problem into. I'll cc this email to him to 
give him a heads-up about the thread.

> 1) There is no actual benefit to using $(...) over `...`.

I disagree with that statement on technical grounds (not merely cosmetic 
grounds), as I've run into real problems in using `...` along with " and 
\, problems that I would not have run into with $(...). The Autoconf 
manual describes some of these problems.[1]

> Talking about # as an analogy is a red herring. # does not cause
> real-life problem.

# caused a real-life problem for me on a real-life system, around 1979. 
Of course the problem set has changed since then, but the compatibility 
principle hasn't.

[1] 
https://www.gnu.org/savannah-checkouts/gnu/autoconf/manual/autoconf-2.70/html_node/Shell-Substitutions.html



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