Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!iuvax!mailrus!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!cwns1.INS.CWRU.Edu!chet
From: chet@cwns1.INS.CWRU.Edu (Chet Ramey)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp
Subject: Re: Bug in HP's /bin/sh?
Message-ID: <1990Feb8.224246.20180@usenet.ins.cwru.edu>
Date: 8 Feb 90 22:42:46 GMT
References: <MONTNARO.90Feb8142952@spyder.crd.ge.com>
Sender: news@usenet.ins.cwru.edu
Reply-To: chet@po.CWRU.Edu
Organization: Information Network Services, Case Western Reserve
Lines: 23

In article <MONTNARO.90Feb8142952@spyder.crd.ge.com>,
montnaro@spyder.crd.ge.com (Skip Montanaro) writes:

> Apparently there is only a single argument vector shared by functions under
> HP's version of /bin/sh, so calling a function from within another function
> ruins the argument vector to the first. Is this fixed in 7.0? The workaround
> is to save the argument vector in a separate variable:

This is true for all versions of /bin/sh descended from the System V.2 sh,
including Ultrix /bin/sh5, SunOS 3.x sh, and a few others.  There is a
single level of argument saving in the System V.3 sh, from which the SunOS
4.x sh (and, I would assume, the Stellix 2.0 sh) is derived.  A single
level of saving is sufficient, since recursive functions are disallowed. 

(Obligatory plug :-)

Bash (the GNU Bourne-Again SHell) allows recursive functions and correctly
saves the dollar variables.  Look for version 1.05 soon.

Chet Ramey				"Can't you pay a grad student to 
Network Services Group			 read the manual for you?"
Case Western Reserve University			-- Bill Wisner,
chet@ins.CWRU.Edu				   	to Peter Honeyman