R devel - Apr 2009 - Problems building R 2.9.0... on SGI and Sun once again

I've successfully built R 2.9.0 on Linux (amd64, i386 and ppc), but am
having a bit of trouble with legacy boxen.  What should have gone into
the variable that is empty at the time it is used in "for f in
$SOMETHING"
and why does it end up being empty?

Solaris 8 with Sun Studio 11 compilers:

building package 'methods'
gmake[4]: Entering directory `/scratch/atossava/R-2.9.0/src/library/methods'
all.R is unchanged
/bin/bash: -c: line 1: syntax error near unexpected token `;'
/bin/bash: -c: line 1: `for f in ; do  if test -f ./${f}; then 
../../../tools/install-sh -c -m 644 ./${f}  ../../../library/methods;  fi; 
done'
gmake[4]: *** [front] Error 2
gmake[4]: Leaving directory `/scratch/atossava/R-2.9.0/src/library/methods'

IRIX 6.5 with MIPSpro 7.4.4 compilers:

building package 'methods'
gmake[4]: Entering directory `/wrk/atossava/R-2.9.0/src/library/methods'
all.R is unchanged
/bin/sh: syntax error at line 1 : `;' unexpected
gmake[4]: *** [front] Error 2
gmake[4]: Leaving directory `/wrk/atossava/R-2.9.0/src/library/methods'

-- 
Atro Tossavainen (Mr.)               / The Institute of Biotechnology at
Systems Analyst, Techno-Amish &     / the University of Helsinki, Finland,
+358-9-19158939  UNIX Dinosaur     / employs me, but my opinions are my own.
< URL : http : / / www . helsinki . fi / %7E atossava / > NO FILE
ATTACHMENTS

I have the same problem trying build R 2.9.0 on AIX using the IBM 
Visual Age compilers and GNU make. I'm trying to figure it out, but
any hints on a fix are greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Darin

gmake[2]: Entering directory `/home/denglan/R/builddir/src/library/methods'
building package 'methods'
mkdir ../../../library/methods
gmake[3]: Entering directory `/home/denglan/R/builddir/src/library/methods'
mkdir ../../../library/methods/R
/bin/sh: syntax error at line 1 : `;' unexpected
gmake[3]: *** [front] Error 2
gmake[3]: Leaving directory `/home/denglan/R/builddir/src/library/methods'
gmake[2]: *** [all] Error 2
gmake[2]: Leaving directory `/home/denglan/R/builddir/src/library/methods'
gmake[1]: *** [R] Error 1
gmake[1]: Leaving directory `/home/denglan/R/builddir/src/library'
gmake: *** [R] Error 1
make: The error code from the last command is 1.


On Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 02:54:58PM +0300, Atro Tossavainen
wrote:
> I've successfully built R 2.9.0 on Linux (amd64, i386 and ppc), but am
> having a bit of trouble with legacy boxen.  What should have gone into
> the variable that is empty at the time it is used in "for f in
$SOMETHING"
> and why does it end up being empty?
> 
> Solaris 8 with Sun Studio 11 compilers:
> 
> building package 'methods'
> gmake[4]: Entering directory
`/scratch/atossava/R-2.9.0/src/library/methods'
> all.R is unchanged
> /bin/bash: -c: line 1: syntax error near unexpected token `;'
> /bin/bash: -c: line 1: `for f in ; do  if test -f ./${f}; then 
../../../tools/install-sh -c -m 644 ./${f}  ../../../library/methods;  fi; 
done'
> gmake[4]: *** [front] Error 2
> gmake[4]: Leaving directory
`/scratch/atossava/R-2.9.0/src/library/methods'
> 
> IRIX 6.5 with MIPSpro 7.4.4 compilers:
> 
> building package 'methods'
> gmake[4]: Entering directory
`/wrk/atossava/R-2.9.0/src/library/methods'
> all.R is unchanged
> /bin/sh: syntax error at line 1 : `;' unexpected
> gmake[4]: *** [front] Error 2
> gmake[4]: Leaving directory `/wrk/atossava/R-2.9.0/src/library/methods'
> 
> -- 
> Atro Tossavainen (Mr.)               / The Institute of Biotechnology at
> Systems Analyst, Techno-Amish &     / the University of Helsinki,
Finland,
> +358-9-19158939  UNIX Dinosaur     / employs me, but my opinions are my
own.
> < URL : http : / / www . helsinki . fi / %7E atossava / > NO FILE
ATTACHMENTS
> 
> ______________________________________________
> R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel

(This is really in response to Peter Dalgaard, not to myself)
> This seems to come from constructions of the form
> 
> for i in $FOO : do .... ; done
> 
> If $FOO is empty, then the resulting "for i in ;" is a syntax
error
> with some versions of bash and sh.
Given that one should generally be writing scripts for the Bourne
shell, it is IMHO the case that "for i in ;" is a syntax error,
period.
> Current Linux versions of bash do not have that behaviour.
...violating Bourne shell compatibility in yet another way...
> One workaround could be to upgrade bash.
If R is to be an application that is not specific to (recent distributions
of) Linux, one should expect and code for systems that may not have bash
at all but only the Bourne shell.
> Another workaround could be to safeguard the for-loop with
> 
> test "$FOO" != "" && for i in $FOO : do .... ;
done
> 
> in all of the Makefiles where this can be an issue.
That is one of the possible ways in which R developers could, I
suppose, address the issue.

-- 
Atro Tossavainen (Mr.)               / The Institute of Biotechnology at
Systems Analyst, Techno-Amish &     / the University of Helsinki, Finland,
+358-9-19158939  UNIX Dinosaur     / employs me, but my opinions are my own.
< URL : http : / / www . helsinki . fi / %7E atossava / > NO FILE
ATTACHMENTS

On Apr 29, 2009, at 5:55 , Atro Tossavainen wrote:
> (This is really in response to Peter Dalgaard, not to myself)
>
>> This seems to come from constructions of the form
>>
>> for i in $FOO : do .... ; done
>>
>> If $FOO is empty, then the resulting "for i in ;" is a syntax
error
>> with some versions of bash and sh.
>
> Given that one should generally be writing scripts for the Bourne
> shell, it is IMHO the case that "for i in ;" is a syntax error,  
> period.
>
>> Current Linux versions of bash do not have that behaviour.
>
> ...violating Bourne shell compatibility in yet another way...
>
>> One workaround could be to upgrade bash.
>
> If R is to be an application that is not specific to (recent  
> distributions
> of) Linux, one should expect and code for systems that may not have  
> bash
> at all but only the Bourne shell.
>
>> Another workaround could be to safeguard the for-loop with
>>
>> test "$FOO" != "" && for i in $FOO : do
.... ; done
>>
>> in all of the Makefiles where this can be an issue.
>
> That is one of the possible ways in which R developers could, I
> suppose, address the issue.
>
You could check, I suppose, that it has been addressed in a similar  
way ;).

Cheers,
Simon