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Re: Invalid shell assignments in environment

To: dgk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Joerg.Schilling@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Invalid shell assignments in environment
From: Glenn Fowler <gsf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2009 09:27:40 -0400
Cc: austin-group-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, chet.ramey@xxxxxxxx
Organization: AT&T Research
References: <200907012242.n61MgCCp020103@penguin.research.att.com> <4A4C2005.6030402@case.edu> <4a4c81a6.2tWl4Z9DpJUyvd+z%Joerg.Schilling@fokus.fraunhofer.de>
what about this scenario

in UTF-8 locale parent shell:
glück=bad
export glück
run child shell in C locale:
        run grandchild shell in UTF-8 locale
                echo $glück

if the child shell only passes valid environment variables
then it will eliminate glück from the environment because
it contains non-identifier characters
so $glück will be undefined in the grandchild
(if the UTF-8 encoding of u-umlaut doesn't trigger non-identifier,
 then there will be some other char whose unicode encoding will)

this would seem to be an argument for the shell
ignoring but passing on non-shell-identifers in the environment

a stickier point is what happens if a UTF-8 locale
is set midway in the child shell -- does it have any $glück ?

-- Glenn Fowler -- at&t Research, Florham Park NJ --

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