2009-12-11, 06:17(-07), Eric Blake:
>
> According to Roman Rakus on 12/11/2009 6:08 AM:
>> kill builtin incorrectly thinks that -PGID is signal name even if the
>> signal name is set by -s or -n option.
>>
>> [rra...@dhcp-lab-170 ~]$ kill -s TERM -5032
>> bash: kill: 5032: invalid signal specification
>
> Not necessarily a bug. POSIX requires that portable shell use:
>
> kill -s TERM -- -5032
I don't think so. -- is only necessary as the first argument as
in kill -- -5032.
SUSv4:
To avoid an ambiguity of an initial negative number
argument specifying either a signal number or a process
group, POSIX.1-2008 mandates that it is always considered
the former by implementations that support the XSI option.
It also requires that conforming applications always use
the "--" options terminator argument when specifying a
process group, unless an option is also specified.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So I'd say it's a bug.
Now, pdksh, ash and their derivatives also have that bug (zsh
and AT&T ksh are OK), so the advice to use '--' in any case, in
practice should be followed.
--
Stéphane
