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Bug in Make or configure: spaces in path (PR#7068)

2 messages · Martin Maechler, Kurt Hornik

Original
Martin Maechler
# 
williams> Full_Name: Elliot Williams Version: 1.9.1 OS:
    williams> Linux Submission from: (NULL) (146.142.53.18)

    williams> Hi,

    williams> The usual configure/make procedure hangs when
    williams> there is a space in the pathname.

    williams> For instance, I had R in "/home/elliot/R
    williams> Software/R-1.9.1/" and make complained that it
    williams> couldn't find "Software/R-1.9.1/".  Changing the
    williams> directory to R_Software resolved the problem.

    williams> This is a small problem, but it might bite new
    williams> linux users who like to use spaces in directory
    williams> names and don't know that it can cause troubles.

Hmm, I think these new users should rather learn that it
probably *will* cause much too much trouble and stop using
spaces in file names....  {well, I can hear some people scream,
but that's my humble opinion}.

    williams> Note that this is similar to a bug about commas in
    williams> filepaths, number 5536.  I do not, however, expect
    williams> the earth.  :-)

I'm waiting for others to comment, but I wouldn't consider this
a bug. Just don't use "crazy" directory names ("," or non-ASCII
accents..) since this will bite you eventually anyway (i.e. not
only with R), e.g. using an accented char, or Umlaut and moving your directory
tree to a locale where these characters are not valid or at
least not displayed usually.

Martin
Kurt Hornik
# 
williams> Full_Name: Elliot Williams Version: 1.9.1 OS:
williams> Linux Submission from: (NULL) (146.142.53.18)

williams> Hi,

williams> The usual configure/make procedure hangs when
williams> there is a space in the pathname.

williams> For instance, I had R in "/home/elliot/R
williams> Software/R-1.9.1/" and make complained that it
williams> couldn't find "Software/R-1.9.1/".  Changing the
williams> directory to R_Software resolved the problem.

williams> This is a small problem, but it might bite new
williams> linux users who like to use spaces in directory
williams> names and don't know that it can cause troubles.
williams> Note that this is similar to a bug about commas in
williams> filepaths, number 5536.  I do not, however, expect
williams> the earth.  :-)
Formally, we could claim it is not a bug if it was clearly stated in
some place (R-admin?) to be the "official" behavior.

I had a brief look: the first problem is

	$(MAKE) rhome=`cd $(top_builddir); pwd` install-bin

and it should not be too hard to change this to something like

	$(MAKE) rhome="`cd \"$(top_builddir)\"; pwd`" install-bin

(or start propagating abs_top_builddir which I think Autoconf would have
given us for a few years now).

I think R mostly runs even if R_HOME has a path with spaces, so why
shouldn't we be able to build in a dir whose path has spaces?

Of course, using double quotes in file paths is another story ...

-k