Re: PATCH [0/3]: Simplify the kernel build by removing perl.

Jamie Lokier
2009-01-15T18:52:40Z

Pádraig Brady wrote:
> > The $(( ... )) construct is standard POSIX shell syntax, see
> > http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/000095399/utilities/xcu_chap02.html#tag_02_06_04
> >
> > Bash supports $[ ... ] as an alternate syntax for the same thing.
> > Perhaps you were thinking of that.
>
> I think the misconception that $(( ... )) is a bashism is caused by
> the wrong highlighting defaults chosen by vim.

I think the misconception is because traditional unix bourne shells
don't implement that construct. I just tried it on a few machines,
and it failed on 4 of them. Admittedly, the only up to date one is
running Solaris 10; the others are older unixes that you're unlikely
to build Linux on.

-- Jamie