Peter da Silva wrote:
> On 17-Oct-2007, at 01:47, Michael G Schwern wrote:
>> As there is no such thing as portable shell code across the platforms
>> named,
>> you must generate tailored code for each platform and make version,
>> you are
>> failing to appreciate the magnitude of the problem.
>
> The problem is nowhere near as hateful as writing the application to be
> portable across all those platforms in the first place.
No, trust me, really. It isn't.
It is much easier to write a portable Perl program then to write a portable
Makefile / shell installer. Perl at least attempts to act the same
everywhere. With shells and makes, forget it. Different dialects, different
external commands, different file path syntaxes, different versions, different
limitations, different installations.
Are you running the BSD or GNU file tools? What version? Or maybe GNV where
some stuff works but a lot does not. Is it tar or gtar? make, dmake, nmake
1.5, nmake 5, gmake, BSD make, Solaris make, mms or mmk? Is /bin/sh really sh
or something trying to emulate sh and getting it wrong? Do we quote with
single or double quotes?
And bugs bugs bugs bugs bugs in all those different utilities to work around.
--
I do have a cause though. It's obscenity. I'm for it.
- Tom Lehrer
