[tex-k] ls -R

[Reinhard Kotucha]

Hi,
under the assumption that UNIX claims that the output of one program
can be processed by an other, there is probably a bug in UNIX's ls
command which has some impact on web2c based TeX systems.

If you want to have some fun, just type:

touch `kpsewhich -expand-var=\\$TEXMFMAIN`/fonts/tfm/public/cm/a:
texhash

...and your TeX system is broken.

ls -R appends a colon to each directory.  Unfortunately, a colon is a
valid character in filenames.  The only character which is disallowed
in filenames is a slash.  So the slash is the only character which can
mark a directory reliably as a directory.

The problem is quite nasty because the user who accidentally installs
a file which ends with a colon doesn't get any error message at all.
It is extremely hard to locate the bug.  

Regards,
  Reinhard

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Reinhard Kotucha			             Phone: +49-511-27060390
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