On Fri, Jun 10, 2022, at 10:19 AM, Chet Ramey wrote:
> I didn't look at more than mailx, but the description there makes it clear
> that $EDITOR needs to expand to a command name. `more' has similar wording
> ("The name of the editor shall be taken from the environment variable
> EDITOR.") and talks about what to do if the last pathname component in
> $EDITOR is `vi' or `ex'.

That's certainly the common-sense interpretation -- and no doubt
the intended one, given the historical behavior you mentioned.
I was reading phrases like "Determine the name of a utility" and
"The name of the editor shall be taken from the environment variable"
as allowing some wiggle room for the variable contents, but I was
probably overthinking it.

-- 
vq

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