Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2003 18:54:22 -0500 From: Dan Nelson <dnelson@allantgroup.com> To: Raphael Marmier <raphael@computer-rental.ch> Cc: freebsd-questions <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: can't set a variable with a dash in its name!! Message-ID: <20030427235420.GC22259@dan.emsphone.com> In-Reply-To: <B4D3860B-7907-11D7-A8A8-000393D67E4A@computer-rental.ch> References: <B4D3860B-7907-11D7-A8A8-000393D67E4A@computer-rental.ch>
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In the last episode (Apr 28), Raphael Marmier said:
> On a freshly installed 4.8, while trying to install the mail/imp3
> port, I realised that it was impossible to define the following
> variable, either in tcsh or sh:
>
> re# setenv WITH_COURIER-IMAP
> setenv: Syntax Error.
> re# setenv WITH_COURIERIMAP
> re#
>
> re# sh
> # export WITH_COURIER-IMAP
> export: WITH_COURIER-IMAP: bad variable name
> # export WITH_COURIERIMAP
> #
>
> I just tried on 4.6.2 and it works, as well as MacOSX.
Try "make WITH_COURIER-IMAP=yes", or "make -DWITH_COURIER-IMAP", or
edit the port Makefile or /etc/make.conf and set
"WITH_COURIER-IMAP=yes" in there. Basically, that's not a valid shell
variable, so you have to set it from within make.
Posix says:
Environment variable names used by the utilities in the Shell and
Utilities volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 consist solely of
uppercase letters, digits, and the '_' (underscore) from the
characters defined in Portable Character Set and do not begin with
a digit. Other characters may be permitted by an implementation;
applications shall tolerate the presence of such names.
The primary problem with the dash is that /bin/sh uses that in variable
expansion:
${parameter:-word}
Use Default Values. If parameter is unset or null, the
expansion of word is substituted; otherwise, the value of
parameter is substituted.
In the parameter expansions shown previously, use of the colon in
the format results in a test for a parameter that is unset or null;
omission of the colon results in a test for aparameter that is only
unset.
--
Dan Nelson
dnelson@allantgroup.com
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