Several DDs have said that they plan to continue to use "test -a" and "test -o" in /bin/sh scripts. Given this fact, it is necessary for reliability that all shells that are /bin/sh candidates either refrain from implementing a "test" builtin or else implement a "test" builtin compatible with /usr/bin/test.
In other words, "test" cannot be "grandfathered" --- it cannot be treated as an exception to the rule that shells should implement builtins in mutually compatible ways. (Such exceptions have to be dealt with by scripts not using the options that behave differently among shells, and/or by specifying a particular shell in the shebang.) The only shell I know of that implements "test" incompatibly with /usr/bin/test is posh. (It has been alleged that different shells have different precedence rules for the logical connective options of "test", but no one has yet shown that any of the Debian shells is different from the others.) The maintainer of posh refuses to consider his shell's deviance as a bug; so the conclusion must be drawn that "posh" is not a practical /bin/sh candidate. -- Thomas Hood -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]