--- lib/userspec.c.orig	2004-02-15 00:11:52.919262304 -0500
+++ lib/userspec.c	2004-02-15 00:25:58.178763328 -0500
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@
   separator = strchr (spec, ':');
 
   /* If there is no colon, then see if there's a `.'.  */
-  if (separator == NULL)
+  if (separator == NULL && (!getenv ("POSIXLY_CORRECT") || posix2_version() < 200112))
     {
       dot = strchr (spec, '.');
       /* If there's no colon but there is a `.', then first look up the
@@ -189,8 +189,11 @@
 	 as a separator.  */
       /* FIXME: accepting `.' as the separator is contrary to POSIX.
 	 someday we should drop support for this.  */
-      if (dot)
+      if (dot) {
+      if (!(posix2_version() < 200112))
+	error(0, 0, _("`%s' syntax is obsolete; use `:' since this will be removed in the future"), spec_arg);
 	maybe_retry = 1;
+      }
     }
 
  retry: