[BUG] ob-shell: :cmdline fails with single argument (was Re: [BUG] ob-shell: :shebang changes interpretation of :cmdline)

[Matt <matt@excalamus.com>]

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 ---- On Sat, 18 Nov 2023 16:54:39 +0100  Max Nikulin  wrote --- 

 > I have faced an inconsistency with :cmdline treatment in ob-shell.el. 

These are sadly easy to find.  

If you run:

#+begin_src bash :cmdline 1 
echo "$1"
#+end_src

Then it fails with 

list: Wrong type argument: sequencep, 1

However, running this works:

#+begin_src bash :cmdline "1" 
echo "$1"
#+end_src

I didn't dig too much into it, but it looks like :cmdline expects a sequence.  When multiple arguments are passed, such as :cmdline 1 2 3, then "1 2 3" is passed into process-file.  (sequencep "1 2 3") is t.  (sequencep 1) is nil.  So, to work around this a single :cmdline argument must be surrounded by quotes to make it a sequence.  (sequencep "1") is t.  Obviously, this should be fixed.

Attached is a patch to test for this whenever we're ready to tackle making execution mutually consistent.  I'm still reviewing the library and am not quite ready for that yet.

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diff --git a/testing/lisp/test-ob-shell.el b/testing/lisp/test-ob-shell.el
index 879555af0..d41387e57 100644
--- a/testing/lisp/test-ob-shell.el
+++ b/testing/lisp/test-ob-shell.el
@@ -436,6 +436,19 @@ exiting with a non-zero return code multiple times."
                          (buffer-string)))))
       (kill-buffer "*Org-Babel Error Output*")))
 
+(ert-deftest test-cmdline-with-single-argument-shouldnt-require-quotes ()
+  "The original implementation of :cmdline required a single element
+to be surrounded by goes to work."
+  (should
+   (equal 1
+          (org-test-with-temp-text
+              ;; "#+begin_src sh :cmdline \"1\" :shebang #!/bin/bash
+              "#+begin_src sh :cmdline 1 #!/bin/bash
+echo \"$1\"
+<point>
+#+end_src"
+            (org-babel-execute-src-block)))))
+
 (provide 'test-ob-shell)
 
 ;;; test-ob-shell.el ends here