Hello everybody, Failing to understand --preserve option *after reading the man page*, I hope to help improving the docs so future users won't hit the same builder.
The specific section at cp --help (from which cp man is generated) is: > --preserve[=ATTR_LIST] > preserve the specified attributes (default: mode,ownership,timestamps), if possible additional attributes: context, links, xattr, all Upon reading this I wrongly assumed that _failing to provide a preserve parameter_, it would preserve by default the mode, ownership and timestamps. I was annoyed on it seeing I needed to manually add --preserve=mode,ownership,timestamps and it wasn't working 'as documented' until I found the explanation in the Texinfo manual: >Using `--preserve' with no ATTRIBUTE_LIST is equivalent to > `--preserve=mode,ownership,timestamps'. >In the absence of this option, each destination file is created > with the mode bits of the corresponding source file, minus the > bits set in the umask and minus the set-user-ID and set-group-ID > bits. *Note File permissions::. I am attaching a rewording proposal that avoids talking about "the default". If the mailing list strips plain text attachments I can send it to you directly. PS: You may want to fix http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/faq/coreutils-faq.html there're <samp> html tags visible inside anchor tags.
diff --git a/src/cp.c b/src/cp.c index c99aff3..5577c89 100644 --- a/src/cp.c +++ b/src/cp.c @@ -181,10 +181,10 @@ Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.\n\ "), stdout); fputs (_("\ -p same as --preserve=mode,ownership,timestamps\n\ - --preserve[=ATTR_LIST] preserve the specified attributes (default:\n\ - mode,ownership,timestamps), if possible\n\ - additional attributes: context, links, xattr,\n\ - all\n\ + --preserve[=ATTR_LIST] preserve the specified attributes (without\n\ + ATTR_LIST: mode,ownership,timestamps), if\n\ + possible. Additional attributes: context,\n\ + links, xattr, all\n\ "), stdout); fputs (_("\ --no-preserve=ATTR_LIST don't preserve the specified attributes\n\