GNU bug report logs - #16282
revisit; reasoning for not using ENV vars to provide workarounds for POSIX limitations?

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Message #8 received at 16282 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: Linda Walsh <coreutils <at> tlinx.org>, 16282 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#16282: revisit; reasoning for not using ENV vars to provide
 workarounds for POSIX limitations?
Date: Sat, 28 Dec 2013 12:03:20 -0800

Linda Walsh wrote:
> Adding colons to the middle of the env var

That would make the var impossible to use from the shell.

And no matter what the name is, if it makes a standard
utility behave in odd ways, it'll break scripts that
don't expect the odd behavior.  That's the essential
objection here.

Yes, we've used env vars in the past for this, but we've
come to regret it, and we don't want to make matters worse
in this respect without a compelling justification.

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