Paul Eggert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > In a few cases, the default coreutils behavior conforms to POSIX, but > coreutils changes its behavior if POSIXLY_CORRECT is set. Here is a > patch to remove these special cases; this lessens the effect of > POSIXLY_CORRECT on coreutils behavior. This patch affects behavior > only when POSIXLY_CORRECT is set. > > 2004-06-09 Paul Eggert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > * NEWS: Remove special cases for POSIXLY_CORRECT when POSIX allows > the GNU behavior. > * doc/coreutils.texi (pr invocation, unlink invocation, false > invocation, true invocation): Document this. > * src/ls.c (decode_switches): Pay attention to TABSIZE even if > POSIXLY_CORRECT is set. POSIX reserves upper-case environment > variables to the implementation, so it's OK for ls to depend on > TABSIZE. > * src/pr.c: Include "hard-locale.h". > (main): When in a non-POSIX locale, ignore POSIXLY_CORRECT, since > POSIX specifies the behavior only in the POSIX locale. > * src/printf.c (print_esc): Support \x, \u, \U even if POSIXLY_CORRECT, > since POSIX says the behavior is unspecified here. > * src/tail.c (parse_obsolescent_option): Support multiple file operands > even if POSIXLY_CORRECT, since POSIX does not require a diagnostic. > * src/printf.c (main): Recognize --help, --version even if > POSIXLY_CORRECT. POSIX does not specify any options, but it > does not prohibit options either, so "printf" is like "expr" here. > * src/true.c (main): Likewise. > * src/unlink.c (main): Likewise. > * src/yes.c (main): Likewise. > * tests/misc/printf: Adjust to the new semantics for \x if > POSIXLY_CORRECT.
Thanks, Paul! I expect to apply most of those changes. The only ones I don't like are those to true (and hence false) and yes. I think true and yes should continue to provide some mechanism for disabling interpretation of --help and --version. For true, Peter Seebach made the point back in 1999[*] that one should be able to use true-with-any-arguments as a no-op. Sure, it's usually better to use `:', but sometimes we need a command that can be `exec'd. As for `yes', shouldn't there be a way to make it print `--h', `--help' or `--version' repeatedly? With the current code, setting POSIXLY_CORRECT in the environment is currently the only way to do that. I do admit that the name POSIXLY_CORRECT is at best misleading in these cases, now that I see the behavior it disables is permitted by POSIX. [*] in a message that I didn't find in public archives: Message-Id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Peter Seebach) To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Bug-coreutils mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-coreutils
