This is quite fragile, but it works for now, unlike the python
version.
In general it seems conf.py is not intended to be evaluated outside of
sphinx, as it assumes certain global names (in particular "tags") are
defined.
year=`exec date +%Y`
echo -n "Checking that copyright in documentation contains 2009-$year... "
# Read the value of variable `copyright' defined in 'doc/conf.py'.
-# As __file__ is not defined when python command is given from command line,
-# it is defined before contents of 'doc/conf.py' (which dereferences __file__)
-# is executed.
-copyrightline=`exec python -c "with open('doc/conf.py') as cf: __file__ = ''; exec(cf.read()); print(copyright)"`
+copyrightline=$(grep ^copyright doc/conf.py)
case $copyrightline in
*2009-$year*)
echo Yes. ;;