random number generator

Im having trouble generating random numbers with M4.  I found a thread on the
subject but the recommended defs do not work

>>m4 lacks a random number generator builtin. I think it would be great if
such builtin existed. Currently I use something like:
dnl random(num): Evaluates to a random number from range 0..num-1.
define([random],[eval(esyscmd(printf $RANDOM) % $1)])dnl

I have played and played with this, getting down to simple esyscmd and
printf, but the $RANDOM shell command blows up in M4.  So Im now down to
these two commands to try to compare whats going on:

esyscmd(`printf $user')dnl
esyscmd(`printf $RANDOM')dnl


and this is my output.


mikezdnl
printf: 1: usage: printf format [arg ...]


Can anyone help me with why $RANDOM is not working in this context?   If I
run it standalone in a bash shell it kicks out a number just fine.  even
with the printf $RANDOM

OR

If anyone has a macro to generate random numbers, please post,the one from
the thread above is not complete, either that or not compatable with M4
(2.0) and above...
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