[Pkg-zsh-devel] Bug#871787: Bug#871787: zsh: error "defining function based on alias ..."

[Vincent Lefevre]

On 2017-08-11 17:17:36 +0200, Axel Beckert wrote:
> Vincent Lefevre wrote:
> > There's a major regression, which breaks my startup scripts:
> > 
> > zira% alias foo=bar
> > zira% foo() { : }
> > zsh: defining function based on alias `foo'
> > zsh: parse error near `()'
> 
> I don't see what should be wrong here. Seems like a new safe-guard
> avoiding redefining an alias as function without unaliasing it first.
> Looks legit to me on a first glance.
> 
> Digging through the upstream commits, I found this commit which looks
> like this new behaviour is totally on purpose:
> 
>   commit bb218704d27bcca9aa4426296dcd5c13d58b330a
>   Author: Peter Stephenson <p.w.stephenson at ntlworld.com>
>   Date:   Tue Jan 10 19:14:26 2017 +0000
> 
>     40306 with doc tweaks: Change behaviour expanding alias in ()
>     function definition.
>     
>     Now an error unless the () is part of the same error as the name.
>     Add ALIAS_FUNC_DEF option to allow it again.
> 
> So you should either add this option or change the syntax of your
> startup scripts. I hence consider this to be a non-bug.

OK, but perhaps this should be announced then, since there are
legitimate uses and this is a change in the behavior.

In my case, this is typically something like:

alias ssh='nocorrect ssh'

and a ssh wrapper is defined as a function. I don't see anything
wrong with this kind of construct.

> Retitling and downgrading the bug report accordingly for the
> remainder of the bug report:
> 
> > Well, I'm not sure whether there are other issues or this is a
> > consequence of the above bug, but completions are alo broken.
> > For instance, I can no longer complete on the "man" command.
> 
> Works fine for me on a first glance, both without arguments as well as
> with the beginning of a command already typed.

I'll try to find the cause of the other issues.

-- 
Vincent Lefèvre <vincent at vinc17.net> - Web: <https://www.vinc17.net/>
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Work: CR INRIA - computer arithmetic / AriC project (LIP, ENS-Lyon)