GNU bug report logs - #68412
[PATCH] scripts: edit: Accept generic formatting parameter.

Previous Next

Full log

View this message in rfc822 format

From: Liliana Marie Prikler <liliana.prikler <at> gmail.com>
To: Ludovic Courtès <ludo <at> gnu.org>
Cc: 68412 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Simon Tournier <zimon.toutoune <at> gmail.com>
Subject: [bug#68412] [PATCH v2] scripts: edit: Accept generic formatting parameter.
Date: Thu, 08 Feb 2024 19:09:09 +0100

Am Mittwoch, dem 07.02.2024 um 23:22 +0100 schrieb Ludovic Courtès:
> Hi,
> 
> Liliana Marie Prikler <liliana.prikler <at> gmail.com> skribis:
> 
> > > Second, I think that using markers that can be interpreted by
> > > Bash
> > > shell can lead to confusion.  For instance,
> 
> [...]
> 
> > > $ export GUIX_EDITOR_LOCATION_FORMAT="--line=${LINE} ${FILE}"
> > > $ echo $GUIX_EDITOR_LOCATION_FORMAT
> > > --line=foo bar
> > > --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
> > > 
> > > Well, simple quote versus double quote appears to me subtle.
> > > 
> > > Since it is an hard text replacement, why not remove $ and just
> > > have the placeholder {LINE} or {FILE}?  Or <LINE> and <FILE>?  Or
> > > whatever that is not interpreted by common shells.
> > Because it is only a hard text replacement *for now*.  We might
> > find that there's merit to having gash interpret these later on.  I
> > know there's like fifty conventions for formatting strings and we
> > have to pick one, but I'd like to think that this isn't just a
> > pointless exercise in forward compatibility.
> 
> It’s true that someone not well versed in shell or someone distracted
> could easily find themselves having ${LINE} and ${FILE} shell-
> expanded even though we precisely don’t want that.
> 
> One way out would be to use a different syntax, say, %LINE% and
> %FILE%.  With the syntax clearly different from shell variables, we’d
> avoid those easy mistakes.
> 
> WDYT?
Well, I said my opinion already in reply to Simon, but if y'all
strongly feel that preventing this confusion is preferable and can
agree to a common syntax, by all means go ahead and commit it with that
change.

I do think there's value in having this interpretable by gash at some
point, but maybe I'm thinking too far into the future.

Cheers

Previous Next

GNU bug tracking system
Copyright (C) 1999 Darren O. Benham, 1997,2003 nCipher Corporation Ltd, 1994-97 Ian Jackson.