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Cause: incomplete information about unsetting of environment variables were presented
Consequence: information of possible unsetting of environment variables were missing
Fix: information about unsetting of environment variables provided
Result: man page is updated
DescriptionGE Scott Knauss
2014-05-20 01:54:45 UTC
Description of problem:
The man page contains the following:
"
NOTES
Variables in the environment passed to mailx cannot be unset.
"
<snip>
"
Variable options
Options are controlled via set and unset commands, see their entries
for a syntax description. An option is also set if it is passed to
mailx as part of the environment (this is not restricted to specific
variables as in the POSIX standard). A value given in a startup file
overrides a value imported from the environment. Options may be either
binary, in which case it is only significant to see whether they are
set or not; or string, in which case the actual value is of interest.
"
The first appears to be the current state of the code.
Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
12.4-7.el6.x86_64
How reproducible:
man mailx
Steps to Reproduce:
1. mail mailx
Actual results:
See Description
Expected results:
The sentence "A value given in a startup file overrides a value imported from the environment." should be removed from the man page.
Additional info:
This issue was found when the user upgraded from RHEL 5 to RHEL 6 and a script failed due to the debug variable being defined as a function in a script that also called mailx. This caused mailx to go in to debug mode and not send email.
(In reply to Jan Chaloupka from comment #2)
> Does it make sence for ou, Peter, to remove the sentence "A value given in a
> startup file overrides a value imported from the environment."?
This does NOT sound reasonable to me. I believe that sentence is still true. I believe value GIVEN in a startup file does override a value imported from the environment. The only thing is that a value from the environment can't be unset from the config file, only overriden with a new value. I think the sentence needs to be there or the user will have no idea. I would just repeat the caveat given at the end of the man page here, that's all.
Please, don't remove that sentence unless someone has found that it's not true.
Since the problem described in this bug report should be
resolved in a recent advisory, it has been closed with a
resolution of ERRATA.
For information on the advisory, and where to find the updated
files, follow the link below.
If the solution does not work for you, open a new bug report.
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2014-1382.html
Description of problem: The man page contains the following: " NOTES Variables in the environment passed to mailx cannot be unset. " <snip> " Variable options Options are controlled via set and unset commands, see their entries for a syntax description. An option is also set if it is passed to mailx as part of the environment (this is not restricted to specific variables as in the POSIX standard). A value given in a startup file overrides a value imported from the environment. Options may be either binary, in which case it is only significant to see whether they are set or not; or string, in which case the actual value is of interest. " The first appears to be the current state of the code. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): 12.4-7.el6.x86_64 How reproducible: man mailx Steps to Reproduce: 1. mail mailx Actual results: See Description Expected results: The sentence "A value given in a startup file overrides a value imported from the environment." should be removed from the man page. Additional info: This issue was found when the user upgraded from RHEL 5 to RHEL 6 and a script failed due to the debug variable being defined as a function in a script that also called mailx. This caused mailx to go in to debug mode and not send email.