Re: [HACKERS] Re: initdb.sh fixed

Bruce Momjian <pgman@candle.pha.pa.us> writes:
> We currently have:
>   EffectiveUser=`id -n -u 2>/dev/null` || EffectiveUser=`whoami 2>/dev/null`

OK, but is that really portable?  I'd feel more comfortable with

EffectiveUser=`id -n -u 2>/dev/null || whoami 2>/dev/null`

because it's clearer what will happen.  I wouldn't have expected an
error inside a backquoted subcommand to determine the error result of
the command as a whole, which is what the first example is depending on.
In a quick test it seemed to work with the ksh I tried it on, but I
wonder how many shells work that way...
        regards, tom lane