diff -uprN -X /home/eric/etc/dontdiff /home/eric/dev/xen-tools/hooks/common.sh /home/eric/dev/xen-tools-assert/hooks/common.sh
--- /home/eric/dev/xen-tools/hooks/common.sh	2006-10-19 16:22:08.000000000 +0200
+++ /home/eric/dev/xen-tools-assert/hooks/common.sh	2006-10-19 18:26:33.000000000 +0200
@@ -35,10 +35,15 @@ logMessage ()
 #
 assert ()
 {
-    line=$1;
-    shift;
+    lineno="?"
 
-    if ! [ $* ] ; then
+    if [ -n "${LINENO}" ]; then
+    	# our shell defines variable LINENO, great!
+	lineno=$1
+	shift
+    fi
+
+    if [ ! $* ] ; then
         echo "assert failed: $0:$lineno [$*]"
 	exit
     fi