Subject: bug#16291: Use of /bin/rm

From: [email-masked] (Ludovic Courtès)
Date: Sun, 29 Dec 2013 22:49:53 +0100

Hello!

While upgrading the GNU system to Automake 1.14.1, I noticed that a few
tests emit warnings like this:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
SKIP: t/spy-rm.tap 1 # SKIP /bin/rm not found
PASS: t/spy-rm.tap 2 - rm -f
SKIP: t/spy-rm.tap 3 # SKIP /bin/rm not found
PASS: t/spy-rm.tap 4 - rm -rf
SKIP: t/spy-rm.tap 5 # SKIP /bin/rm not found
PASS: t/spy-rm.tap 6 - rm -fr
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

There’s no /bin/rm in Guix build environments, hence the message (in
fact, there’s no /bin at all.)

However, in general, I think packages should not rely on hardcoded file
names, and instead use AC_PATH_PROG or similar mechanisms to get the
right file name.

Would it be possible to change these tests to use ‘rm’ instead of /bin/rm?
What do you think?

Thanks,
Ludo’.