Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!mailrus!ames!ucsd!ucsdhub!hp-sdd!hp-pcd!hpfcso!hpfcdc!rpt
From: rpt@hpfcdc.HP.COM (Rich Testardi)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp
Subject: Re: ksh question
Message-ID: <5570390@hpfcdc.HP.COM>
Date: 22 Mar 90 05:16:59 GMT
References: <1586@krafla.rhi.hi.is>
Organization: HP Ft. Collins, Co.
Lines: 29

> It seems to be unlegal to have the command "set -o ignoreeof markdirs"
> in .envfile.  Why ?

From the ksh(1) man-page:

>                          -o      The -o argument takes any of several
>                                  option names, but only one option can
>                                  be specified with each -o flag.
...
>                          The remaining arg arguments are positional
>                          parameters and are assigned consecutively to
>                          $1, $2, ....

Ksh needs to *unambiguously* decide where the -o options end and where
the positional parameters begin -- it does so by restricting you to
exactly *one* option per "-o" flag.

When you say "set -o ignoreeof markdirs", ksh thinks you want to enable
"ignoreeof" and then set $1 to "markdirs" (and clear $2, $3, etc.)...

As a side note:  You might consider changing the "#!/bin/ksh" in your
scripts to a "#!/bin/ksh -p" -- this will prevent them from sourcing
the $ENV file altogether (a *very* common source of problems for ksh
scripts), and instead, cause them to source /etc/suid_profile (if it
exists).

Hope this explains the behavior.

-- Rich