The CREATE/CREATETHIN commands should overwrite the output file appropriately: https://sourceware.org/binutils/docs/binutils/ar-scripts.html.
This fixes a regression for MRI scripts introduced in: https://reviews.llvm.org/D123142 which put logic into performWriteOperation. performWriteOperation is called for all MRI commands that write an archive out (one's with a SAVE command). performWriteOperation is unaware of MRI semantics and loads an existing archive if present. If an existing archive is loaded, llvm-ar checks the properties of the existing archive for decisions about the output archive (for example making the output archive thin if the existing one was). https://reviews.llvm.org/D123142 adds the following logic...
if (OldArchive) { if (Thin && !OldArchive->isThin()) fail("cannot convert a regular archive to a thin one"); if (OldArchive->isThin()) Thin = true; }
... which errors for a script with CREATETHIN in effect if there is an existing regular archive, and causes CREATE to output a thin archive if there is an existing thin archive.
You don't need the mkdir: split-file creates it automatically. (Keep the rm though).