m4 comment bug

[David A. Caplan]

m4 seems to be picking up single quote characters (') within comment lines 
(both when using # and dnl).  I am using "GNU m4 1.4.1". It also expands 
$1, $2,... if they are within a comment.

Example:
define(`foo',`
# there aren't any arguments to this macro
this is output of the fo`o' macro')
foo

produces an output loop (because foo is recursively called),
=>
=>
=># there arent any arguments to this macro
=>this is output of the
=># there arent any arguments to this macro
=>this is output of the
...

where:
define(`foo',`
# there arent any arguments to this macro
this is output of the `fo'o macro')
foo

The output is:
=>
=>
=># there arent any arguments to this macro
=>this is output of the foo macro

If we have:
define(`foo',`
# there aren`'t any arguments to this macro
this is output of the fo`o' macro')
foo

The ouput is:
=>
=>
=># there aren`'t any arguments to this macro
=>this is output of the foo macro



--
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David Caplan     410 290 1411 x105
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Tresys Technology, LLC
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