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Problem Report 0748 Details

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Report 0748 Actions

    Problem Report Number 0748
    Submitter's Classification Specification problem
    State Resolved
    Resolution Temporary Interpretation (TIN)
    Problem Resolution ID TIN.X.0039
    Raised 1970-01-01 08:00
    Updated 2003-03-13 08:00
    Published 1995-10-23 08:00
    Product Standard Commands and Utilities V2 (UNIX 95)
    Certification Program The Open Brand certification program
    Test Suite VSC version 4.1.4
    Test Identification POSIX.upe/ex 228
    Specification Commands and Utilities Issue 4 Version 2
    Location in Spec See Problem Text
    Problem Summary TIN4C.00022 The tests may fail on implementations that conform to the POSIX 2b/D11 ex specification.
    Problem Text
    The tests may fail on implementations that adhere to historic practice
    and begin with the last line instead of the first. Although POSIX.2
    interpretation #64 reaffirms the behavior, the POSIX.2b draft reinstates
    the historic behavior.

    The test in question verifies the following assertion:

    When the range print count command is issued, then the first line
    specified by range and the following count-1 lines are written to
    standard output and the current line is set to the last line written.

    The assertion is based on the following language in XCU4 Issue 2, p. 305:

    If both a count and a range are specified for a command that
    uses them, the number of lines afected will be taken from the
    count rather than the range. The starting line for the
    command is taken to be the first line addressed by the range.

    This language is taken directly from POSIX.2. However,
    this does not describe the historical behavior of ex.
    IEEE interpretation pasc-1003.2-064 addresses a large number of issues
    regarding vi and ex, including this one. This interpretation request
    is too long to cite here in its entirety, but it states in part:

    (9) Command Descriptions
    Section 5.10.7.2, page 523, line 1309

    Historically, if both a count and range were specified, the offset
    was from the LAST address, not the first. The offset in the case
    was inclusive, so ":2,5c7" changes line 5 and 6 others. There is
    one exception to this, the join command, for which the offset was
    NOT inclusive, so the command "2,3join3" joins 3 lines, not 2.

    Suggestion:
    Conform to historic practice.

    The response to this section was:

    Q9:

    The standard states the behavior for ranges and counts in ex, and
    conforming implementations must conform to this. However, concerns
    have been raised about this which are being referred to the sponsor.

    Note also that the language on which the assertion was based is no
    longer present in the most recent draft of POSIX.2b (rather, the
    historical behavior is described), and that the test suite itself
    contains a comment written to the journal to the effect that this
    appears to be an error and will change. In view of this, the assertion
    is clearly a grey area.

    Test Output
    -----------------start of test output------------------

    ************************************************************************
    /tset/POSIX.upe/ex/ex_05.ex 1 Failed


    Test Information:
    Assertion #228 (C): specification of the [range]print[count] command
    Note: The behavior associated with this assertion is expected
    to change in a future revision of POSIX.2.
    expected current line 3, was line 6
    Command failed: 'checkline ex_data_1 3'
    "def" wasn't found in standard output
    "ghi" wasn't found in standard output
    expected current line 3, was line 6
    Command failed: 'checkline ex_data_1 3'
    "def" wasn't found in standard output
    "ghi" wasn't found in standard output
    ************************************************************************

    ------------------end of test output-------------------

    Note: this output was from the vrpt report.

    Review Information

    Review Type TSMA Review
    Start Date null
    Completed null
    Status Complete
    Review Recommendation No Resolution Given
    Review Response
    Anticipating acceptance of the completely rewritten ex specification
    in POSIX 2003.2b/D11 and the eventual alignment of the tests with it
    a temporary interpretation is recommended.

    Review Type SA Review
    Start Date null
    Completed null
    Status Complete
    Review Resolution Temporary Interpretation (TIN)
    Review Conclusion
    A Temporary Interpretation is granted.

    Problem Reporting System Options:

     

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