Configure fails if /bin/sh is dash

[anaskaejdar]

I'm on gentoo, so I let portage do the building. But basically, chmlib wouldn't go past the configure phase for some reason. Something about calling shift too many times. I like to have dash as my /bin/sh, but I tried changing it back to bash and configure succeeded. I don't know what the cause is, are there bash-isms being used in the configure phase? I'm sorry I can't be more help than this. I don't really understand how the autotools system works so I don't know how to diagnose the situation any further.

>>> Emerging (1 of 27) dev-libs/chmlib-0.40-r1::gentoo
 * Fetching files in the background.
 * To view fetch progress, run in another terminal:
 * tail -f /var/log/emerge-fetch.log
 * chmlib-0.40.tar.bz2 BLAKE2B SHA512 size ;-) ...                       [ ok ]
>>> Unpacking source...
>>> Unpacking chmlib-0.40.tar.bz2 to /var/tmp/portage/dev-libs/chmlib-0.40-r1/work
>>> Source unpacked in /var/tmp/portage/dev-libs/chmlib-0.40-r1/work
>>> Preparing source in /var/tmp/portage/dev-libs/chmlib-0.40-r1/work/chmlib-0.40 ...
 * Applying chmlib-0.39-stdtypes.patch ...
 [ ok ]
 * Applying chmlib-0.40-headers.patch ...
patching file src/chm_http.c
Hunk #1 succeeded at 34 with fuzz 2.
Hunk #2 succeeded at 44 (offset 1 line).
 [ ok ]
>>> Source prepared.
>>> Configuring source in /var/tmp/portage/dev-libs/chmlib-0.40-r1/work/chmlib-0.40 ...
 * econf: updating chmlib-0.40/config.guess with /usr/share/gnuconfig/config.guess
 * econf: updating chmlib-0.40/config.sub with /usr/share/gnuconfig/config.sub
/var/tmp/portage/dev-libs/chmlib-0.40-r1/work/chmlib-0.40/configure --prefix=/usr --build=x86_64-pc-linux-gnu --host=x86_64-pc-linux-gnu --mandir=/usr/share/man --infodir=/usr/share/info --datadir=/usr/share --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var/lib --disable-dependency-tracking --docdir=/usr/share/doc/chmlib-0.40-r1 --htmldir=/usr/share/doc/chmlib-0.40-r1/html --libdir=/usr/lib64 --enable-examples --disable-static
checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/lib/portage/python3.7/ebuild-helpers/xattr/install -c
checking whether build environment is sane... yes
checking for a thread-safe mkdir -p... /bin/mkdir -p
checking for gawk... gawk
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes
checking whether to enable maintainer-specific portions of Makefiles... no
checking for x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-gcc... x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-gcc
checking for C compiler default output file name... a.out
checking whether the C compiler works... yes
checking whether we are cross compiling... no
checking for suffix of executables...
checking for suffix of object files... o
checking whether we are using the GNU C compiler... yes
checking whether x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-gcc accepts -g... yes
checking for x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-gcc option to accept ISO C89... none needed
checking for style of include used by make... GNU
checking dependency style of x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-gcc... none
checking build system type... x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
checking host system type... x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
checking for a sed that does not truncate output... /bin/sed
checking for grep that handles long lines and -e... /bin/grep
checking for egrep... /bin/grep -E
checking for fgrep... /bin/grep -F
checking for ld used by x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-gcc... /usr/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/bin/ld
checking if the linker (/usr/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/bin/ld) is GNU ld... yes
checking for BSD- or MS-compatible name lister (nm)... /usr/bin/nm -B
checking the name lister (/usr/bin/nm -B) interface... BSD nm
checking whether ln -s works... yes
checking the maximum length of command line arguments... 1572864
checking whether the shell understands some XSI constructs... yes
checking whether the shell understands "+="... no
checking for /usr/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/bin/ld option to reload object files... -r
checking for x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-objdump... x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-objdump
checking how to recognize dependent libraries... pass_all
checking for x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-ar... x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-ar
checking for x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-strip... x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-strip
checking for x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-ranlib... x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-ranlib
checking command to parse /usr/bin/nm -B output from x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-gcc object... ok
checking how to run the C preprocessor... x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-gcc -E
checking for ANSI C header files... yes
checking for sys/types.h... yes
checking for sys/stat.h... yes
checking for stdlib.h... yes
checking for string.h... yes
checking for memory.h... yes
checking for strings.h... yes
checking for inttypes.h... yes
checking for stdint.h... yes
checking for unistd.h... yes
checking for dlfcn.h... yes
checking for objdir... .libs
checking if x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-gcc supports -fno-rtti -fno-exceptions... no
checking for x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-gcc option to produce PIC... -fPIC -DPIC
checking if x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-gcc PIC flag -fPIC -DPIC works... yes
checking if x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-gcc static flag -static works... yes
checking if x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-gcc supports -c -o file.o... yes
checking if x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-gcc supports -c -o file.o... (cached) yes
checking whether the x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-gcc linker (/usr/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/bin/ld -m elf_x86_64) supports shared libraries... yes
checking whether -lc should be explicitly linked in... no
checking dynamic linker characteristics... GNU/Linux ld.so
checking how to hardcode library paths into programs... immediate
checking whether stripping libraries is possible... yes
checking if libtool supports shared libraries... yes
checking whether to build shared libraries... yes
checking whether to build static libraries... no
checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/lib/portage/python3.7/ebuild-helpers/xattr/install -c
checking for string.h... (cached) yes
checking for strings.h... (cached) yes
checking for unistd.h... (cached) yes
checking for pthread_mutex_init in -lpthread... yes
checking for lseek64... yes
checking for pread64... yes
checking for size_t... yes
checking for stdlib.h... (cached) yes
checking for GNU libc compatible malloc... yes
configure: creating ./config.status
config.status: creating Makefile
config.status: creating src/Makefile
config.status: executing depfiles commands
./config.status: 1134: shift: can't shift that many
 
!!! Please attach the following file when seeking support:
!!! /var/tmp/portage/dev-libs/chmlib-0.40-r1/work/chmlib-0.40_build/config.log
 * ERROR: dev-libs/chmlib-0.40-r1::gentoo failed (configure phase):
 *   econf failed
 *
 * Call stack:
 *               ebuild.sh, line 125:  Called src_configure
 *             environment, line 446:  Called out-of-source_src_configure
 *             environment, line 401:  Called my_src_configure
 *             environment, line 375:  Called econf '--enable-examples' '--disable-static'
 *        phase-helpers.sh, line 681:  Called __helpers_die 'econf failed'
 *   isolated-functions.sh, line 112:  Called die
 * The specific snippet of code:
 *          die "$@"
 *
 * If you need support, post the output of `emerge --info '=dev-libs/chmlib-0.40-r1::gentoo'`,
 * the complete build log and the output of `emerge -pqv '=dev-libs/chmlib-0.40-r1::gentoo'`.
 * The complete build log is located at '/var/tmp/portage/dev-libs/chmlib-0.40-r1/temp/build.log'.
 * The ebuild environment file is located at '/var/tmp/portage/dev-libs/chmlib-0.40-r1/temp/environment'.
 * Working directory: '/var/tmp/portage/dev-libs/chmlib-0.40-r1/work/chmlib-0.40_build'
 * S: '/var/tmp/portage/dev-libs/chmlib-0.40-r1/work/chmlib-0.40'
 
>>> Failed to emerge dev-libs/chmlib-0.40-r1, Log file:
 
>>>  '/var/tmp/portage/dev-libs/chmlib-0.40-r1/temp/build.log'
 * Messages for package dev-libs/chmlib-0.40-r1:
 * ERROR: dev-libs/chmlib-0.40-r1::gentoo failed (configure phase):
 *   econf failed
 *
 * Call stack:
 *               ebuild.sh, line 125:  Called src_configure
 *             environment, line 446:  Called out-of-source_src_configure
 *             environment, line 401:  Called my_src_configure
 *             environment, line 375:  Called econf '--enable-examples' '--disable-static'
 *        phase-helpers.sh, line 681:  Called __helpers_die 'econf failed'
 *   isolated-functions.sh, line 112:  Called die
 * The specific snippet of code:
 *          die "$@"
 *
 * If you need support, post the output of `emerge --info '=dev-libs/chmlib-0.40-r1::gentoo'`,
 * the complete build log and the output of `emerge -pqv '=dev-libs/chmlib-0.40-r1::gentoo'`.
 * The complete build log is located at '/var/tmp/portage/dev-libs/chmlib-0.40-r1/temp/build.log'.
 * The ebuild environment file is located at '/var/tmp/portage/dev-libs/chmlib-0.40-r1/temp/environment'.
 * Working directory: '/var/tmp/portage/dev-libs/chmlib-0.40-r1/work/chmlib-0.40_build'
 * S: '/var/tmp/portage/dev-libs/chmlib-0.40-r1/work/chmlib-0.40'

[anaskaejdar]

To clarify, the configure stage failed when my /bin/sh was linked to dash. It suceeded when my /bin/sh was linked to bash.