guy@rlgvax.UUCP (Guy Harris) (08/01/83)
Actually, there's a simple fix for the 'if [ "$1" = "" ]' problem; just
say "ln /bin/test /bin/[", which has been done in Berkeley's UNIX and
several others. (The history of the "test"/"[" command seems a bit
convoluted, given 1) the fact that the "test" program behaves properly if
its name is "[", 2) the fact that there is a comment in the S3 shell to
the effect that "builtin.c is for those things that Bourne never intended
to be built in" and 3) the fact that the V7 shell as distributed has hooks
to build "[" in, but NOT under the name of "test"! Curiouser and curiouser...)
Guy Harris
Computer Consoles, Inc.
Office Systems Group
{seismo,mcnc,we13,brl-bmd,allegra}!rlgvax!guy