[SOLVED] Executing command from file (with tail) probably misquotes?

Weapon S · 05-19-2015, 01:58 AM

When working with a virtual terminal, I find it often easier to edit a file to execute than to construct a regular-expression etc. to inject the right UUID etc. into the command. I have run into an error while doing this. I suspect it is stems from quote mishandling, or improper escape sequences. (I ran directly from the command line earlier, forgot a quotation mark, and it gave a similar bad result.)
The program in question was efibootmgr. I had a file vaguely similar to this one, named efiboot.Hz:

Code:

efibootmgr -c -g -L "Debian (EFI stub)" -l '\EFI\debian\vmlinuz' -u 'root=UUID=$UUID ro quiet rootfstype=ext4 add_efi_memmap initrd=\\EFI\\debian\\initrd.img'
efibootmgr -c -d /dev/sdb -L "Debian Linux" -l '\EFI\debian\vmlinuz' -u 'root=UUID=1234-ffff-789 ro quiet rootfstype=ext4 add_efi_memmap initrd=\\EFI\\debian\\initrd.img'

Then I executed:

Code:

`tail -n 1 efiboot.Hz`

efibootmgr -v revealed the previous command produced a garbled name and boot options, and most importantly it didn't boot. Manually writing the last line on the terminal did produce the desired effect. I thought I checked the output from tail before putting the back-ticks.
What did I do wrong?

jpollard · 05-19-2015, 08:08 AM

Wrong quote:

Code:

'root=UUID=$UUID ro quiet rootfstype=ext4 add_efi_memmap initrd=\\EFI\\debian\\initrd.img'

The apostrophe disables substitution within the string. Use

Code:

"root=UUID=$UUID ro quiet rootfstype=ext4 add_efi_memmap initrd=\\EFI\\debian\\initrd.img"

Weapon S · 05-19-2015, 11:45 AM

The single quote actually worked, when typed directly onto the command line. What happens, when I use `tail` to run it?

jpollard · 05-19-2015, 03:31 PM

Nothing changes.

You have to pipe the output to tail - if the log is in a file then you can use tail to skip forward and backward in the file - but with a pipe you can't.

suicidaleggroll · 05-19-2015, 04:09 PM

He's not piping the command to tail, the command is in a file and he's using tail to execute it:

Code:

`tail -n 1 efiboot.Hz`

OP - please stick an "echo" in front of the command in your file, and then copy and paste the results of

Code:

tail -n 1 efiboot.Hz
`tail -n 1 efiboot.Hz`

ntubski · 05-19-2015, 04:17 PM

I think this might be one of those rare cases where using eval is the correct solution.

Quote:

Originally Posted by suicidaleggroll

OP - please stick an "echo" in front of the command in your file, and then copy and paste the results of

Code:

tail -n 1 efiboot.Hz
`tail -n 1 efiboot.Hz`

Using echo won't always show word splitting correctly, I suggest instead compare outputs of

Code:

printf '[%s]\n' efibootmgr -c -d /dev/sdb -L "Debian Linux" -l '\EFI\debian\vmlinuz' -u 'root=UUID=1234-ffff-789 ro quiet rootfstype=ext4 add_efi_memmap initrd=\\EFI\\debian\\initrd.img'
printf '[%s]\n' `tail -n 1 efiboot.Hz`

Weapon S · 05-23-2015, 03:24 AM

You seem to be on the right track, ntubski.
Line from file to be executed:

Code:

efibootmgr -c -d /dev/sdb -L "Debian Linux" -l '\EFI\debian\vmlinuz' -u 'root=UUID=3c049958-12f1-4323-bba4-b80ee37dcdc9 ro quiet rootfstype=ext4 add_efi_memmap initrd=\EFI\debian\initrd.img' -v

Expected result (output of efibootmgr -v)

Code:

Boot0001* Debian Linux	HD(1,800,100000,02087932-b340-4c33-9193-81dd0a1cf2c2)File(\EFI\debian\vmlinuz)r.o.o.t.=.U.U.I.D.=.3.c.0.4.9.9.5.8.-.1.2.f.1.-.4.3.2.3.-.b.b.a.4.-.b.8.0.e.e.3.7.d.c.d.c.9. .r.o. .q.u.i.e.t. .r.o.o.t.f.s.t.y.p.e.=.e.x.t.4. .a.d.d._.e.f.i._.m.e.m.m.a.p. .i.n.i.t.r.d.=.\.E.F.I.\.d.e.b.i.a.n.\.i.n.i.t.r.d...i.m.g.

Result from running with tail:

Code:

Boot0003* "Debian	HD(1,800,100000,02087932-b340-4c33-9193-81dd0a1cf2c2)File('\EFI\debian\vmlinuz')L.i.n.u.x.".'.r.o.o.t.=.U.U.I.D.=.3.c.0.4.9.9.5.8.-.1.2.f.1.-.4.3.2.3.-.b.b.a.4.-.b.8.0.e.e.3.7.d.c.d.c.9.r.o.q.u.i.e.t.r.o.o.t.f.s.t.y.p.e.=.e.x.t.4.a.d.d._.e.f.i._.m.e.m.m.a.p.i.n.i.t.r.d.=.\.E.F.I.\.d.e.b.i.a.n.\.i.n.i.t.r.d...i.m.g.'.

Command split by printf:

Code:

[efibootmgr]
[-c]
[-d]
[/dev/sdb]
[-L]
["Debian]
[Linux"]
[-l]
['\EFI\debian\vmlinuz']
[-u]
['root=UUID=3c049958-12f1-4323-bba4-b80ee37dcdc9]
[ro]
[quiet]
[rootfstype=ext4]
[add_efi_memmap]
[initrd=\EFI\debian\initrd.img']
[-v]

Result from typing in directly:

Code:

Boot0005* Debian Linux	HD(1,800,100000,02087932-b340-4c33-9193-81dd0a1cf2c2)File(\EFI\debian\vmlinuz)r.o.o.t.=.U.U.I.D.=.3.c.0.4.9.9.5.8.-.1.2.f.1.-.4.3.2.3.-.b.b.a.4.-.b.8.0.e.e.3.7.d.c.d.c.9. .r.o. .q.u.i.e.t. .r.o.o.t.f.s.t.y.p.e.=.e.x.t.4. .a.d.d._.e.f.i._.m.e.m.m.a.p. .i.n.i.t.r.d.=.\.E.F.I.\.d.e.b.i.a.n.\.i.n.i.t.r.d...i.m.g.

Command split by printf:

Code:

[efibootmgr]
[-c]
[-d]
[/dev/sdb]
[-L]
[Debian Linux]
[-l]
[\EFI\debian\vmlinuz]
[-u]
[root=UUID=3c049958-12f1-4323-bba4-b80ee37dcdc9 ro quiet rootfstype=ext4 add_efi_memmap initrd=\EFI\debian\initrd.img]
[-v]

If I understand correctly the shell normally evaluates the quote characters and splits up the arguments to the program accordingly, but when using backticks it immediately splits up the arguments. This page seems to suggest it is a quirk of the backticks. (But I've never run into problems otherwise, maybe because some programs check for interrupted arguments manually.)

ntubski · 05-23-2015, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Weapon S

If I understand correctly the shell normally evaluates the quote characters and splits up the arguments to the program accordingly, but when using backticks it immediately splits up the arguments.

It's a bit more complicated than that: token splitting happens first, then expansion, then word splitting on expansions, then quote removal on non-expansions. More details in the bash manual, specifically Shell-Operation and Shell-Expansions.

Quote:

Command split by printf:

The split is performed by the shell, not printf. This is significant because this splitting shows what any other command would see.

So the correct solution would be

Code:

eval "`tail -n 1 efiboot.Hz`"

The quotes around the backticks are important to avoid word-splitting twice. It doesn't matter for this particular command, but it's necessary if you want e.g. consecutive spaces in a single argument.