A few ebuilds use bash '[[ ${foo} < ${bar} ]]' comparison to compare
numbers and package versions.
In bash '<' is for lexicographical string comparison (see man bash
'CONDITIONAL EXPRESSIONS' section). It's almost never what
you want:
$ [[ 1.2.3 < 1.2.3 ]] && echo yes || echo no
no # ok
$ [[ 1.2.9 < 1.2.3 ]] && echo yes || echo no
no # ok
$ [[ 1.2.9 < 1.2.10 ]] && echo yes || echo no
no # whoops
A very crude grep shows many affected packages:
$ git grep -E '\[\[.*[<>]\s*[0-9]+.*\]\]' | cat
app-misc/unfoo/unfoo-1.0.8.ebuild: elif [[ ${REPLACING_VERSIONS} < 1.0.7
]]; then
dev-db/libzdb/libzdb-3.1-r1.ebuild: if [[ $(gcc-version) < 4.1 ]];then
dev-db/libzdb/libzdb-3.1.ebuild: if [[ $(gcc-version) < 4.1 ]];then
eclass/kernel-2.eclass: if [[ ${K_SYMLINK} > 0 ]]; then
eclass/kernel-2.eclass: if [[ ${KV_MAJOR} -ge 3 ||
${KV_MAJOR}.${KV_MINOR}.${KV_PATCH} > 2.6.24 ]] ; then
eclass/kernel-2.eclass: if [[ ${KV_MAJOR} -ge 3 ||
${KV_MAJOR}.${KV_MINOR}.${KV_PATCH} > 2.6.28 ]]; then
eclass/kernel-2.eclass: if [[ -n ${KV_MINOR} &&
${KV_MAJOR}.${KV_MINOR}.${KV_PATCH} < 2.6.27 ]] ; then
... <list goes on and on> ...
Some of them are benign like '[[ ${foo} > 0 ]]': I think it's still worth
fixing them.
Some of them are worse like [[ $(gcc-version) < 4.1 ]]: gcc-version=10 will
break here.
I've created a tracker and dumped a few suspects there:
https://bugs.gentoo.org/705240
I'm sure there are more creative ways to hide version (or just number)
compare behind lexicographical string comparison. If you have an idea how
grep those out please do report and fix them :)
Thank you!
--
Sergei
