Failure under NetBSD 10.0 /bin/ksh

[ebblake]

Reported by Bruno Haible when testing an m4 snapshot:
https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-m4/2025-04/msg00047.html

Pasting that here:

FAIL: test-option-parser.sh
===========================

== running in '/bin/ksh' ==
[[ output check ]] args: --help
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
HELP
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: --debug --help
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
HELP
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: --test jej --help
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
HELP
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: --debug --test jej --help
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
HELP
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: --test=jej --help
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
HELP
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: --debug --test=jej --help
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
HELP
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: --test= --help
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
HELP
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: --debug --test= --help
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
HELP
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: --test=
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
EMPTY_TEST
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: --debug --test=
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
EMPTY_TEST
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: -t ""
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
EMPTY_TEST
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: --debug -t ""
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
EMPTY_TEST
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: --test ""
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
EMPTY_TEST
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: --debug --test ""
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
EMPTY_TEST
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: --test=false
expected:
FALSE_TEST
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: --debug --test=false
expected:
FALSE_TEST
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: -tfalse
expected:
FALSE_TEST
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: --debug -tfalse
expected:
FALSE_TEST
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: -t false
expected:
FALSE_TEST
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: --debug -t false
expected:
FALSE_TEST
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: 
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
UNSET_TEST
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: --debug
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
UNSET_TEST
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: a
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
ONE_ARG a
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: --debug a
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
ONE_ARG a
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: a b c
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
THREE_ARGS
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: --debug a b c
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
THREE_ARGS
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: a b c d
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
MORE_ARGS
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: --debug a b c d
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
MORE_ARGS
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: short
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
SHORTCUT
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: --debug short
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
SHORTCUT
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: shortcut
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
SHORTCUT
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: --debug shortcut
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
SHORTCUT
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: short --help
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
HELP
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: --debug short --help
error: unexpected exit status 1 0
expected:
HELP
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: eval "echo eval ; exit 4"
error: unexpected exit status 1 4
expected:
eval
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: --debug eval "echo eval ; exit 4"
error: unexpected exit status 1 4
expected:
eval
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: validate_out eval "echo eval ; exit 4"
error: unexpected exit status 1 4
expected:
eval
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ output check ]] args: --debug validate_out eval "echo eval ; exit 4"
error: unexpected exit status 1 4
expected:
eval
given:

error: unexpected output
[[ retval check ]] args: --test
[[ retval check ]] args: --not-existent
[[ retval check ]] args: short --not-existent
[[ grep for 'test-version' ]] args: --version
error: test-version is not in stdout 
error: unexpected retval 1 (should be 0)
[[ grep for 'test-version' ]] args: --version --whatever
error: test-version is not in stdout 
error: unexpected retval 1 (should be 0)
[[ grep for 'test-version' ]] args: --debug --version
error: test-version is not in stdout 
error: unexpected retval 1 (should be 0)
error: can't run in /bin/ksh
== running in 'default shell' ==
[[ output check ]] args: --help
[[ output check ]] args: --debug --help
[[ output check ]] args: --test jej --help
[[ output check ]] args: --debug --test jej --help
[[ output check ]] args: --test=jej --help
[[ output check ]] args: --debug --test=jej --help
[[ output check ]] args: --test= --help
[[ output check ]] args: --debug --test= --help
[[ output check ]] args: --test=
[[ output check ]] args: --debug --test=
[[ output check ]] args: -t ""
[[ output check ]] args: --debug -t ""
[[ output check ]] args: --test ""
[[ output check ]] args: --debug --test ""
[[ output check ]] args: --test=false
[[ output check ]] args: --debug --test=false
[[ output check ]] args: -tfalse
[[ output check ]] args: --debug -tfalse
[[ output check ]] args: -t false
[[ output check ]] args: --debug -t false
[[ output check ]] args: 
[[ output check ]] args: --debug
[[ output check ]] args: a
[[ output check ]] args: --debug a
[[ output check ]] args: a b c
[[ output check ]] args: --debug a b c
[[ output check ]] args: a b c d
[[ output check ]] args: --debug a b c d
[[ output check ]] args: short
[[ output check ]] args: --debug short
[[ output check ]] args: shortcut
[[ output check ]] args: --debug shortcut
[[ output check ]] args: short --help
[[ output check ]] args: --debug short --help
[[ output check ]] args: eval "echo eval ; exit 4"
[[ output check ]] args: --debug eval "echo eval ; exit 4"
[[ output check ]] args: validate_out eval "echo eval ; exit 4"
[[ output check ]] args: --debug validate_out eval "echo eval ; exit 4"
[[ retval check ]] args: --test
[[ retval check ]] args: --not-existent
[[ retval check ]] args: short --not-existent
[[ grep for 'test-version' ]] args: --version
[[ grep for 'test-version' ]] args: --version --whatever
[[ grep for 'test-version' ]] args: --debug --version
FAIL test-option-parser.sh (exit status: 1)

[gvvaughan]

How peculiar! /bin/ksh on NetBSD appears to be identical to the /bin/ksh on my Mac:

https://cdn.netbsd.org/pub/pkgsrc/current/pkgsrc/shells/ast-ksh/index.html

vs

$ uname -a
Darwin Murgatroyd.local 24.4.0 Darwin Kernel Version 24.4.0: Wed Mar 19 21:18:03 PDT 2025; root:xnu-11417.101.15~1/RELEASE_ARM64_T8112 arm64

$ /bin/ksh --version
  version         sh (AT&T Research) 93u+ 2012-08-01

And I can't reproduce on that machine, nor even divine what might be going on by inspection of the test scripts. Given the shell itself appears to be the same, I suspect that one of the core utils on NetBSD must be doing something unexpected. If you have access to the machine that produced this failure, could you maybe add a strategic set -vx to tests/test-option-parser-helper and/or tests/test-option-parser.sh and paste the output back to this issue, please?