Re: AS_DIRNAME

[Eric Blake]

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According to Ralf Wildenhues on 9/29/2009 11:49 PM:
> Hello Peter,
> 
> * Peter Johansson wrote on Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 11:24:51PM CEST:
>> Under weaknesses for `dirname' the manual (v2.64) mentions that one
>> should use macro AS_DIRNAME instead. The macro seems to do what I
>> want, but I cannot find it in the manual? Is it safe to use that
>> macro or should I consider it as an internal..?
> 
> I think we should document AS_DIRNAME, not doing so was probably an
> omission, esp. since it is mentioned a couple of times in the manual.

At one point it was documented.  Then later, we pulled the documentation,
since the interface is less than ideal (it doesn't handle trailing
newlines, although those are rare); a better interface would start
searching for shells that support the POSIX feature of ${var%/*}, so we
don't even have to fork to implement this on decent machines.

But yes, I agree that until we implement the better interface, we probably
ought to revive the documentation.

- --
Don't work too hard, make some time for fun as well!

Eric Blake             address@hidden
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