Robert Elz wrote, on 16 Apr 2021:
>
> Austin Group Defect 1272 is applied, clarifying that the null utility
> does not expand its arguments,
> does not recognize the "--" end-of-options delimiter,
> does not support any options,
> and does not write to standard error.
>
> (reformatted slightly here to make the 4 elements of the change
> stand out more easily).
>
> The one that made be go "Whoa - what's that?" was the first one, as
> of course the args to ':' are expanded, there's nothing special about
> it, but that statement makes it appear that there is.
>
> The actual change described there was the removal of the sentence:
>
> This utility shall only expand command arguments.
>
> which, of course, was the right thing to do, as ':' doesn't do
> any argument expanding - that's done before the command is run.
>
> And while I am aware that the CHANGE HISTORY is not normative, and the
> text that is actually in the normative parts is fine, that short clause
> will be misinterpreted by people to mean that (since they're not used)
> the args to ':' should not be expanded either. And that's despite the
> also non-normative EXAMPLES section which shows an example of exactly
> that (presumably: the example relies in the unstated assumption that X was
> previously unset, but that's old, and not important).
>
> To avoid problems, could we change
> does not expand its arguments
> into something slightly less ambiguous, perhaps
> does nothing unusual with its argument processing
> or something like that?
>
> Better would be to say something more like
> Text was removed that implied that the command
> expanded its arguments in addition to normal
> command argument processing.
> but in that form it doesn't fit the style of the rest of the entry.
>
> Do we need a new bug (against D1.1) for this, or can this kind of thing
> simply be changed - assuming of course that the need for a change is
> accepted?
It would be best to submit a new bug against D1.1.
Your suggestion could be fitted into the existing entry something like
this:
Austin Group Defect 1272 is applied, removing text that implied that
the null utility expands its arguments in addition to normal command
argument processing and clarifying that the null utility does not
recognize the "--" end-of-options delimiter, does not support any
options, and does not write to standard error.
--
Geoff Clare <g.cl...@opengroup.org>
The Open Group, Apex Plaza, Forbury Road, Reading, RG1 1AX, England
