Shawn Walker wrote: > On Feb 7, 2008 11:13 PM, David Korn <dgk at research.att.com> wrote: > > cc: swalker at opensolaris.org > > Subject: Re: [ksh93-integration-discuss] printf syntax and /sbin/sh > > compatibility > > > I just ran into an odd behaviour tonight (see bug > > > http://defect.opensolaris.org/bz/show_bug.cgi?id=502). > > > > > > The following script: > > > > > > printf "\n----------------------\n" > > > printf " IP configuration \n" > > > printf "----------------------\n\n" > > > > > > ...works under ye olde /sbin/sh (bourne shell), but fails with > > > "unknown option" under ksh93. > > > > > > Since I'm rather daft about some nuances of shell syntax, can someone > > > explain this to me? [snip] > > > > This is not a defect. If the first argument a command begins with a - > > it is treated as an option, not an argument. The operand -- indicates > > end of options. > > > > Change > > printf "----------------------\n\n" > > to > > printf -- "----------------------\n\n" > > In this case, it isn't a script I wrote. > > It's part of a shell script that is used during a driver install for a > Marvell Yukon Gigabit Ehternet Adapter. > > Sadly, Solaris' version of bourne shell? /sbin/sh allows the "bad > syntax" I mentioned above.
Erm, the issue is not related to /sbin/sh. The Bourne shell (= /sbin/sh) just has no built-in "printf" command and uses /usr/bin/printf > I wonder if some sort of compatibility mode can be achieved for > bourne's printf syntax. Erm... $ man -s1 printf # says: -- snip -- ATTRIBUTES See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri- butes: ________________________________________________________ | ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE | |_________________________|_____________________________| | Availability | SUNWloc | |_________________________|_____________________________| | CSI | enabled | |_________________________|_____________________________| | Interface Stability | Standard | |_________________________|_____________________________| -- snip -- I'll try some analysis (Don Cragun may correct me): The "interface stabilty" is defined as "Standard", e.g. /usr/bin/printf should be "standards conforming". Since http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/utilities/printf.html does not list any exception in argument handling for the "printf" utilty the normal rules for argument parsing apply (see http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/utilities/xcu_chap01.html) - which require that "printf" just be able to handle options and treat arguments which start with a '-' character as options (if they are before an argument with the value "--"). AFAIK the current behaviour of Solaris's /usr/bin/printf is therefore a bug (and per Knut Reiner's comment in http://defect.opensolaris.org/bz/show_bug.cgi?id=502 the POSIX test suites complain about the issue). ---- Bye, Roland -- __ . . __ (o.\ \/ /.o) roland.mainz at nrubsig.org \__\/\/__/ MPEG specialist, C&&JAVA&&Sun&&Unix programmer /O /==\ O\ TEL +49 641 7950090 (;O/ \/ \O;)
