GNU bug report logs - #17774
AIX and lbracket ([) program - will not install on AIX using installp

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Michael Felt <mamfelt <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: AIX and lbracket ([) program - will not install on AIX using installp
Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2014 16:20:05 +0200

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

I know now why I am still using version 8-15
1. I never tried 8.16
2. since version 8.17 (or 16 which I never tried) lbracket gets linked as
the program [

Now, except that I would have a terrible time entering that as a command,
as is it a special character for ksh, and I would think bash the additional
problem with
[ as a commandname, or even as a character in a command name - AIX does not
permit files in an installp package are refused when they include certain
special characters (: and the square brackets I am sure of, there are
probably more).

So, while it is a valid filename - I, personally, see it as an extremely
non-portable command name.

If someone, after installation, would want to create a hardlink to that
name - great. But to have a name like that, I must be too old fashioned -
where is the win? typing
/usr/bin/\[ gets me what?

regards,
Michael

p.s. hints on how to massage Makefile is fine. Not trying to save the world
here :)

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #8 received at 17774 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: Michael Felt <mamfelt <at> gmail.com>, 17774 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#17774: AIX and lbracket ([) program - will not install on
 AIX using installp
Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2014 08:09:26 -0700

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Michael Felt wrote:
> But to have a name like that, I must be too old fashioned -
> where is the win?

It's so that execlp ("FOO") acts like the shell command FOO, or, more 
precisely, so that the attached C program works like '[ -d / ]' at the 
shell level.  POSIX requires that all standard utilities (except for a 
very short list) must work the same way from a C program as from the 
shell.  See the last sentence of:

http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/V3_chap01.html#tag_17_06

'[' is not on the list of exceptions, so coreutils arranges for it to be 
an executable, as POSIX requires.

> AIX does not
> permit files in an installp package are refused when they include certain
> special characters

It may be simpler to just omit '[' from your installp package (I assume 
that's some downstream thing).  I doubt whether anybody but POSIX nerds 
will care.  AIX itself doesn't seem to be POSIX-conforming here, as the 
attached C program fails on AIX.  (If *you* are a POSIX nerd please feel 
free to file a bug report with IBM....)

[t.c (text/x-csrc, attachment)]

Message #11 received at 17774 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Michael Felt <mamfelt <at> gmail.com>
To: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
Cc: 17774 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#17774: AIX and lbracket ([) program - will not install on AIX
 using installp
Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2014 17:54:36 +0200

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Yes, I suppose I could just delete it. However, my comment is "also" that
at 8.15 it packaged fine. Starting with 8.17 (or maybe 8.16, I can download
and try).

FYI - I can execute the program [ (as ./? --version as the shell does not
like [ entered directly, and I am not counting the backslashes correctly).
So, maybe your sample program would execute. I will try it in a day or so,
just checking mail for now.


On Fri, Jun 13, 2014 at 5:09 PM, Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu> wrote:

> Michael Felt wrote:
>
>> But to have a name like that, I must be too old fashioned -
>> where is the win?
>>
>
> It's so that execlp ("FOO") acts like the shell command FOO, or, more
> precisely, so that the attached C program works like '[ -d / ]' at the
> shell level.  POSIX requires that all standard utilities (except for a very
> short list) must work the same way from a C program as from the shell.  See
> the last sentence of:
>
> http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/
> utilities/V3_chap01.html#tag_17_06
>
> '[' is not on the list of exceptions, so coreutils arranges for it to be
> an executable, as POSIX requires.
>
>
>  AIX does not
>> permit files in an installp package are refused when they include certain
>> special characters
>>
>
> It may be simpler to just omit '[' from your installp package (I assume
> that's some downstream thing).  I doubt whether anybody but POSIX nerds
> will care.  AIX itself doesn't seem to be POSIX-conforming here, as the
> attached C program fails on AIX.  (If *you* are a POSIX nerd please feel
> free to file a bug report with IBM....)
>

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #14 received at 17774 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Michael Felt <mamfelt <at> gmail.com>
To: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
Cc: 17774 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#17774: AIX and lbracket ([) program - will not install on AIX
 using installp
Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2014 18:08:36 +0200

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

I believe IBMis usually quite commited to being inline with published and
accepted standards. However, this is a standard with 2008 in it's name, and
AIX 5.3 is from 2004, and the TL/SP level I am compiling on, for backwards
compatibility is dated 2007 - so hard to complain that it is not up to a
2008 standard - although I expect the program you sent will compile and
execute.

It is the installp installer that has issues because it uses the []
characters for special purposes.

Maybe I can find a way/modification to the mkinstallp program so that
installp will accept the input.

And yes, deleting/not including it is probably the simplest solution.


On Fri, Jun 13, 2014 at 5:09 PM, Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu> wrote:

> Michael Felt wrote:
>
>> But to have a name like that, I must be too old fashioned -
>> where is the win?
>>
>
> It's so that execlp ("FOO") acts like the shell command FOO, or, more
> precisely, so that the attached C program works like '[ -d / ]' at the
> shell level.  POSIX requires that all standard utilities (except for a very
> short list) must work the same way from a C program as from the shell.  See
> the last sentence of:
>
> http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/
> utilities/V3_chap01.html#tag_17_06
>
> '[' is not on the list of exceptions, so coreutils arranges for it to be
> an executable, as POSIX requires.
>
>
>  AIX does not
>> permit files in an installp package are refused when they include certain
>> special characters
>>
>
> It may be simpler to just omit '[' from your installp package (I assume
> that's some downstream thing).  I doubt whether anybody but POSIX nerds
> will care.  AIX itself doesn't seem to be POSIX-conforming here, as the
> attached C program fails on AIX.  (If *you* are a POSIX nerd please feel
> free to file a bug report with IBM....)
>

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #17 received at 17774 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: Michael Felt <mamfelt <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 17774 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#17774: AIX and lbracket ([) program - will not install on
 AIX using installp
Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2014 10:28:19 -0700

Michael Felt wrote:
> this is a standard with 2008 in it's name, and
> AIX 5.3 is from 2004

AIX 5.3 is no longer supported, so I wouldn't bother filing a bug for 
it.  I was thinking about AIX 7.1, which has the same problem; if you 
want to be a POSIX nerd you can file a bug report against it.

That part of POSIX has been standardized since POSIX.2 (IEEE Std 
1003.2-1992), and the wording hasn't changed since then if I recall 
correctly, so AIX has had this conformance bug for decades and nobody 
has cared....

Message #20 received at 17774 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Michael Felt <mamfelt <at> gmail.com>
To: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
Cc: 17774 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#17774: AIX and lbracket ([) program - will not install on AIX
 using installp
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2014 12:52:16 +0200

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

then if nobody has cared up til now I doubt I will have much chance of
making a difference on that.

thx for the correction. I will mention it, but will not be holding my
breath.

Michael
On Jun 14, 2014 7:28 PM, "Paul Eggert" <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu> wrote:

> Michael Felt wrote:
>
>> this is a standard with 2008 in it's name, and
>> AIX 5.3 is from 2004
>>
>
> AIX 5.3 is no longer supported, so I wouldn't bother filing a bug for it.
>  I was thinking about AIX 7.1, which has the same problem; if you want to
> be a POSIX nerd you can file a bug report against it.
>
> That part of POSIX has been standardized since POSIX.2 (IEEE Std
> 1003.2-1992), and the wording hasn't changed since then if I recall
> correctly, so AIX has had this conformance bug for decades and nobody has
> cared....
>

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #23 received at 17774 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Michael Felt <mamfelt <at> gmail.com>
To: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
Cc: 17774 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#17774: AIX and lbracket ([) program - will not install on AIX
 using installp
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2014 22:50:26 +0200

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

FYI: the program runs fine, and even from the command line (the extra ] at
the end must satisify the ksh syntax checking).

Note: the 8.15 one is "suppossed" to fail, because I packaged that on AIX
6.1 - and then it does not work on AIX 5.3.

root <at> x093:[/data/prj/gnu/coreutils]find . -name ? -ls
85925819    4 drwxrwxr-x  7 michael   1954         4096 Dec 16  2013 .
85988590  126 -rwxr-xr-x  1 root      system      128624 Jun 13 13:52
./coreutils-8.20/src/[
85986625  130 -rwxrwxr--  1 michael   1954       132118 Nov  3  2012
./coreutils-8.17/src/[
85932793  111 -rwxrwxr--  1 michael   1954       113168 Nov  3  2012
./coreutils-8.15/src/[
143394625    4 drwxr-xr-x  2 root      system        4096 Jun 13 14:08
./coreutils-8.15/build/aix/x
120261651  127 -rwxr-xr-x  1 root      system      129823 Jun 13 13:15
./coreutils-8.22/src/[
root <at> x093:[/data/prj/gnu/coreutils]./coreutils-8.15/src/[ -d / ]
Segmentation fault(coredump)
root <at> x093:[/data/prj/gnu/coreutils]./coreutils-8.17/src/[ -d / ]
root <at> x093:[/data/prj/gnu/coreutils]echo $?
0
root <at> x093:[/data/prj/gnu/coreutils]./coreutils-8.20/src/[ -d / ]
root <at> x093:[/data/prj/gnu/coreutils]echo $?
0

On an AIX 6.1 system they all work.

root <at> x094:[/data/prj/gnu/coreutils]find . -name ?
.
./coreutils-8.20/src/[
./coreutils-8.17/src/[
./coreutils-8.15/src/[
./coreutils-8.15/build/aix/x
./coreutils-8.22/src/[
root <at> x094:[/data/prj/gnu/coreutils]./coreutils-8.22/src/[ -d / ]
root <at> x094:[/data/prj/gnu/coreutils]./coreutils-8.22/src/[ -d / ]; echo $?
0
root <at> x094:[/data/prj/gnu/coreutils]./coreutils-8.20/src/[ -d / ]; echo $?
0
root <at> x094:[/data/prj/gnu/coreutils]./coreutils-8.17/src/[ -d / ]; echo $?
0
root <at> x094:[/data/prj/gnu/coreutils]./coreutils-8.15/src/[ -d / ]; echo $?
0

So, I am thinking, when I did 8.15 way back when, I must have customized it
to not include "lbracket" in the package - as, obviously, it was built.

p.s. - I did not try your t.c program, but I expect it to work fine.


On Sat, Jun 14, 2014 at 6:08 PM, Michael Felt <mamfelt <at> gmail.com> wrote:

> I believe IBMis usually quite commited to being inline with published and
> accepted standards. However, this is a standard with 2008 in it's name, and
> AIX 5.3 is from 2004, and the TL/SP level I am compiling on, for backwards
> compatibility is dated 2007 - so hard to complain that it is not up to a
> 2008 standard - although I expect the program you sent will compile and
> execute.
>
> It is the installp installer that has issues because it uses the []
> characters for special purposes.
>
> Maybe I can find a way/modification to the mkinstallp program so that
> installp will accept the input.
>
> And yes, deleting/not including it is probably the simplest solution.
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 13, 2014 at 5:09 PM, Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu> wrote:
>
>> Michael Felt wrote:
>>
>>> But to have a name like that, I must be too old fashioned -
>>> where is the win?
>>>
>>
>> It's so that execlp ("FOO") acts like the shell command FOO, or, more
>> precisely, so that the attached C program works like '[ -d / ]' at the
>> shell level.  POSIX requires that all standard utilities (except for a very
>> short list) must work the same way from a C program as from the shell.  See
>> the last sentence of:
>>
>> http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/
>> utilities/V3_chap01.html#tag_17_06
>>
>> '[' is not on the list of exceptions, so coreutils arranges for it to be
>> an executable, as POSIX requires.
>>
>>
>>  AIX does not
>>> permit files in an installp package are refused when they include certain
>>> special characters
>>>
>>
>> It may be simpler to just omit '[' from your installp package (I assume
>> that's some downstream thing).  I doubt whether anybody but POSIX nerds
>> will care.  AIX itself doesn't seem to be POSIX-conforming here, as the
>> attached C program fails on AIX.  (If *you* are a POSIX nerd please feel
>> free to file a bug report with IBM....)
>>
>
>

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #26 received at 17774 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Eric Blake <eblake <at> redhat.com>
To: Michael Felt <mamfelt <at> gmail.com>, Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
Cc: 17774 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#17774: AIX and lbracket ([) program - will not install on
 AIX using installp
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2014 15:16:13 -0600

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

On 06/17/2014 02:50 PM, Michael Felt wrote:
> FYI: the program runs fine, and even from the command line (the extra ] at
> the end must satisify the ksh syntax checking).

Rather, the 'test' binary and the 'lbracket' binary differ in one
crucial aspect: 'lbracket' requires its last argument in argv[] to be
"]".  It is not ksh, but lbracket itself that requires the matching ],
and it is this fact that allows us to obey POSIX while still allowing '[
--help' to produce help text, even though 'test --help' cannot do so
(that is, '[' has an escape hatch that 'test' does not).

-- 
Eric Blake   eblake redhat com    +1-919-301-3266
Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org

[signature.asc (application/pgp-signature, attachment)]

Message #29 received at 17774 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Michael Felt <mamfelt <at> gmail.com>
To: Eric Blake <eblake <at> redhat.com>
Cc: 17774 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
Subject: Re: bug#17774: AIX and lbracket ([) program - will not install on AIX
 using installp
Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2014 08:23:49 +0200

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Well, you guys are the experts. I was trying to be "smart" - thinking that
lbracket 'required' the closing right bracket to keep the shell syntax
checkers happy. Maybe I am expecting too much from my shells need to check
syntax.

FYI - It seems to be working as expected, rather designed - so I shall make
some specialized 'buildaix' components to get around the filenameing
problem.

Will keep you posted.


On Tue, Jun 17, 2014 at 11:16 PM, Eric Blake <eblake <at> redhat.com> wrote:

> On 06/17/2014 02:50 PM, Michael Felt wrote:
> > FYI: the program runs fine, and even from the command line (the extra ]
> at
> > the end must satisify the ksh syntax checking).
>
> Rather, the 'test' binary and the 'lbracket' binary differ in one
> crucial aspect: 'lbracket' requires its last argument in argv[] to be
> "]".  It is not ksh, but lbracket itself that requires the matching ],
> and it is this fact that allows us to obey POSIX while still allowing '[
> --help' to produce help text, even though 'test --help' cannot do so
> (that is, '[' has an escape hatch that 'test' does not).
>
> --
> Eric Blake   eblake redhat com    +1-919-301-3266
> Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org
>
>

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #32 received at 17774 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Michael Felt <mamfelt <at> gmail.com>
To: Eric Blake <eblake <at> redhat.com>
Cc: 17774 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
Subject: Re: bug#17774: AIX and lbracket ([) program - will not install on AIX
 using installp
Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2014 20:30:04 +0200

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

revisted my 8.15 package in detail. Seems that two years ago I had already
done something special for coreutils - so my apology - not a bug, just
something in the way. I will find a way to make it transparent for installp.

My question: once done, would you be interested in what I have done to
include either in an AIX INSTALL or README?


On Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 8:23 AM, Michael Felt <mamfelt <at> gmail.com> wrote:

> Well, you guys are the experts. I was trying to be "smart" - thinking that
> lbracket 'required' the closing right bracket to keep the shell syntax
> checkers happy. Maybe I am expecting too much from my shells need to check
> syntax.
>
> FYI - It seems to be working as expected, rather designed - so I shall
> make some specialized 'buildaix' components to get around the filenameing
> problem.
>
> Will keep you posted.
>
>
> On Tue, Jun 17, 2014 at 11:16 PM, Eric Blake <eblake <at> redhat.com> wrote:
>
>> On 06/17/2014 02:50 PM, Michael Felt wrote:
>> > FYI: the program runs fine, and even from the command line (the extra ]
>> at
>> > the end must satisify the ksh syntax checking).
>>
>> Rather, the 'test' binary and the 'lbracket' binary differ in one
>> crucial aspect: 'lbracket' requires its last argument in argv[] to be
>> "]".  It is not ksh, but lbracket itself that requires the matching ],
>> and it is this fact that allows us to obey POSIX while still allowing '[
>> --help' to produce help text, even though 'test --help' cannot do so
>> (that is, '[' has an escape hatch that 'test' does not).
>>
>> --
>> Eric Blake   eblake redhat com    +1-919-301-3266
>> Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org
>>
>>
>

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #35 received at 17774 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Assaf Gordon <assafgordon <at> gmail.com>
To: 17774 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#17774: AIX and lbracket ([) program - will not install on AIX
 using installp
Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2018 21:35:30 -0600

tags 17774 notabug
close 17774
stop

(triaging old bugs)

On 18/06/14 12:30 PM, Michael Felt wrote:
> revisted my 8.15 package in detail. Seems that two years ago I had already
> done something special for coreutils - so my apology - not a bug, just
> something in the way. I will find a way to make it transparent for installp.
>
Confirmed not to be a bug - so closing.

-assaf

Message #46 received at 17774 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: Michael Felt <mamfelt <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 17774 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#17774: AIX and lbracket ([) program - will not install on AIX
 using installp
Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2021 12:53:52 -0800

On 6/14/14 10:28, Paul Eggert wrote:

> That part of POSIX has been standardized since POSIX.2 (IEEE Std 
> 1003.2-1992), and the wording hasn't changed since then if I recall 
> correctly, so AIX has had this conformance bug for decades and nobody 
> has cared....

I just ran into a related problem when building bleeding-edge coreutils 
on AIX 7.1, and so I thought I'd document it here. On AIX 7.1, 'make 
check' fails with:

FAIL: tests/misc/help-version.sh

because 'make' never built a '[' program. And AIX 'make' doesn't build a 
'[' program because it mishandles '[' in 'make' macros, which means that 
with Makefiles like this:

  EXEEXT =
  bin_PROGRAMS = ... src/[$(EXEEXT) ...
  PROGRAMS = $(bin_PROGRAMS) ...
  all-am: ... $(PROGRAMS) ...

'make all-am' does not "see" the 'src/[' and so doesn't build it.

Because of this bug, 'make install' obviously will not work correctly, 
as there's no '[' command to install.

A simple workaround is to use GNU Make, which doesn't have this bug.

This bug in AIX 'make' is so obscure that I'm not going to bother 
documenting it in the Autoconf manual under its portability guidelines 
for 'make'. Anyway, nowadays "just use GNU Make" is a good recipe for 
just about every package other than GNU Make itself.

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