Re: [Groff] [PATCH] Use bash for several contrib scripts

[Ralph Corderoy]

Hi Doug,

> I must be missing something in the discussion about random
> numbers. Why does groff need them? In the offered example
>     tmp="$d/eqn2graph$groff_rand"
> the "random number" serves only to make a (supposedly) unique
> name. But of course, if the number is truly random, it is not
> guaranteed to be unique. Why does groff not use the time-honored
> $$ to serve the purpose?  The only requirement for an absolute
> guarantee of uniqueness is that the shell script whose pid $$
> represents lives as long as the temporary file.

http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/groff.git/tree/contrib/eqn2graph/eqn2graph.sh#n59
is the usage.  Dropping $RANDOM would seem reasonable.  :-)

Cheers, Ralph.