Re: list of portable tools

[Ralf Wildenhues]

* Paul Eggert wrote on Tue, Apr 10, 2007 at 06:45:35PM CEST:
> address@hidden (Karl Berry) writes:
> 
> >> POSIX prohibits the use of NUL in Awk input
> >> files, so portable scripts can't assume it.
> >
> > Sure, but in the particular case of bootstrapping gnu packages, if gawk
> > works, that seems pretty sufficient to me?
> 
> Ah, sorry, I didn't realize the context was bootstrapping; I thought
> it was installing.  For bootstrapping, assuming gawk would be OK, but
> in that case assuming 'fold' and 'cut' is OK too, no?

No, for Libtool, the context is not bootstrapping.  The context is that
all software packages that create shared libraries with the help of
libtool (which is most often embedded in the package itself by means of
the ltmain.sh script and some configure tests) would use the tools.

I don't think it is acceptable to require gawk in this case.
It's even less acceptable given that gawk has "use libtool" in
their long-term TODO list, which would create a dependency loop.

FWIW, neither the libtool script nor the configure tests need locales
other than C.

Cheers,
Ralf