Re: bin/54764

[Steffen Nurpmeso <steffen%sdaoden.eu@localhost>]

The following reply was made to PR bin/54764; it has been noted by GNATS.

From: Steffen Nurpmeso <steffen%sdaoden.eu@localhost>
To: elo%foobox.net@localhost
Cc: gnats-bugs%NetBSD.org@localhost, christos%netbsd.org@localhost
Subject: Re: bin/54764
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2019 22:48:39 +0100

 Hello elo.
 
 elo%foobox.net@localhost wrote in <20191216135224.74849821A@marmite.localnet>:
  |Thank you for taking the time to look at the patch I submitted.
  |
  |> From: Steffen Nurpmeso <steffen%sdaoden.eu@localhost>
  |> Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2019 23:40:51 +0100
  |>
  |> POSIX says "unset or set to null", so assuming that NetBSD Mail
  |> does not return NULL when doing "set folder=" (or "set folder")
  |> the above needs an additional "&& *mf != '\0')" for POSIX.
  |
  |I had debated whether to qualify that conditional clause with the
  |set-but-empty test, but ultimately decided not to do when I realised
  |it would put the file-completion code's treatment of the 'folder'
  |variable at odds with that of the mail client proper.
  |
  |Try this: invoke 'mail' whilst your working directory is other than
  |your home directory. With 'folder' unset (and NULL), the 'folders'
  |command will return 'No value set for "folder"'. But after any of
  |'set folder', 'set folder=' or 'set folder=""' (all three of which
  |set 'folder' to an empty string), the 'folders' command will list
  |the contents of your _home_ directory.
 
 That is not standardized behaviour.  But it seems Unix V10 does it
 like that, and BSD Mail introduced this behaviour in 1982 already!
 
   Author:     Kurt Shoens <kurt>
   AuthorDate: 1982-03-15 09:43:52 -0800
   Commit:     Kurt Shoens <kurt>
   CommitDate: 1982-03-15 09:43:52 -0800
 
       Included Eric's branch changes to remove vax and vmunix
       dependencies.
 
  |As per the mail man page, 'If [the folder] name begins with a `/',
  |mail considers it to be an absolute pathname; otherwise, the folder
  |directory is found relative to your home directory.' That's true
  |even if the name is a zero-length string. The client itself is
  |making a distinction between NULL and set-but-empty, and I wanted
  |the file-completion behaviour to mimic it.
  |
  |If I've misled myself by this argument, I'd be very grateful to be
  |put right. In any case, even if I'm not persuaded to change my mind,
  |I'm happy to accept the consensus regarding the patch.
  |
  |Thanks again for your interest.
 
 Since POSIX mostly standardizes existing behaviour i think the
 current POSIX wording is wrong, and you are right.
 In fact i had to fix an according bug in my Mail clone, thanks for
 that.  Be warned you have been credited as elo, please ring
 through if you want name/address/x changes, thank you.  (Will be
 included in next release in a few days already.)
 
 Thanks.
 
  --End of <20191216135224.74849821A@marmite.localnet>
 
 --steffen
 |
 |Der Kragenbaer,                The moon bear,
 |der holt sich munter           he cheerfully and one by one
 |einen nach dem anderen runter  wa.ks himself off
 |(By Robert Gernhardt)