docs: mention bash vs. POSIXLY_CORRECT

* doc/autoconf.texi (Special Shell Variables) <POSIXLY_CORRECT>:
Document bash behavior.
* THANKS: Update.
Reported by Dustin J. Mitchell, via bug-gnulib list.

Signed-off-by: Eric Blake <eblake@redhat.com>

diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index d43f681805a77c8415eb2c26e954cbfbdc717936..73be221621432f60e922450430ff7eec0d919c7a 100644 (file)
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 2010-09-07  Eric Blake  <eblake@redhat.com>
 
+       docs: mention bash vs. POSIXLY_CORRECT
+       * doc/autoconf.texi (Special Shell Variables) <POSIXLY_CORRECT>:
+       Document bash behavior.
+       * THANKS: Update.
+       Reported by Dustin J. Mitchell, via bug-gnulib list.
+
        docs: enhance recommendations on test usage
        * doc/autoconf.texi (Limitations of Builtins) <test (strings)>:
        Mention yet another Solaris issue.

diff --git a/THANKS b/THANKS
index 748c4e428f56f3b786815984e1cd664dd41392e4..675d6d9c3a884c48327a83aa27c54ef0f75ee17f 100644 (file)
--- a/THANKS
+++ b/THANKS
@@ -113,6 +113,7 @@ Dietmar P. Schindler        schd@mra.man.de
 Dmitry Grebeniuk            gdsfh1@gmail.com
 Doug Evans                  dje@canuck.cygnus.com
 Dries Kimpe                 ?
+Dustin J. Mitchell          dustin@zmanda.com
 Edouard Bechetoille         ebecheto@ens-lyon.fr
 Elbert Pol                  elbert.pol@gmail.com
 Eli Zaretskii               eliz@gnu.org

diff --git a/doc/autoconf.texi b/doc/autoconf.texi
index 4d62bf39e5215505726307c589dd13a9fefadb68..15639d967aa7ad56d3ed5914688da507337ef063 100644 (file)
--- a/doc/autoconf.texi
+++ b/doc/autoconf.texi
@@ -16416,6 +16416,24 @@ separator Bash uses to set up certain environment variables (such as
 if you plan to use non-Posix shells to execute files.  @xref{File System
 Conventions}, for more information about @code{PATH_SEPARATOR}.
 
+@item POSIXLY_CORRECT
+@evindex POSIXLY_CORRECT
+In the GNU environment, exporting @env{POSIXLY_CORRECT} with any value
+(even empty) causes programs to try harder to conform to Posix.
+Autoconf does not directly manipulate this variable, but @command{bash}
+ties the shell variable @env{POSIXLY_CORRECT} to whether the script is
+running in Posix mode.  Therefore, take care when exporting or unsetting
+this variable, so as not to change whether @command{bash} is in Posix
+mode.
+
+@example
+$ @kbd{bash --posix -c 'set -o | grep posix}
+> @kbd{unset POSIXLY_CORRECT}
+> @kbd{set -o | grep posix'}
+posix           on
+posix           off
+@end example
+
 @item PWD
 @evindex PWD
 Posix 1003.1-2001 requires that @command{cd} and