Not a bug.
But which one is preferable, test -L or test -h?
TLDR:
If you follow David Korn, -L is the way to go.
If you feel nostalgic about old SunOS, -h looks nicer.
Both were standardized in POSIX Issue 6 (2001), with no preference given there.
Both always worked on OpenBSD, no matter which base system shell was used.
In the OpenBSD ancestry, there was no difference in portability
except between June 1993 and June 1995 (at most).
I admit that usually, when there are two equivalent syntaxes, deprecating
one of them makes sense. But in this case, with POSIX setting both in
stone over 20 years ago, attempting to die on that particular molehill
seems pointless to me.
Hence i suggest the patch below; OK?
More complete history follows after the patch (just for the curious :-).
This does not contradict what jmc@ wrote, but contains more information.
Yours,
Ingo
Index: test.1
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/src/bin/test/test.1,v
diff -u -p -r1.34 test.1
--- test.1 10 Jun 2023 07:19:39 -0000 1.34
+++ test.1 17 Jun 2024 21:22:30 -0000
@@ -110,6 +110,8 @@ is set.
True if
.Ar file
exists and is a symbolic link.
+Identical to
+.Fl L .
.It Fl k Ar file
True if
.Ar file
@@ -118,11 +120,8 @@ exists and its sticky bit is set.
True if
.Ar file
exists and is a symbolic link.
-This operator is for compatibility purposes.
-Do not rely on its existence;
-use
-.Fl h
-instead.
+Identical to
+.Fl h .
.It Fl n Ar string
True if the length of
.Ar string
Index: test.c
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/src/bin/test/test.c,v
diff -u -p -r1.20 test.c
--- test.c 11 Oct 2022 13:40:38 -0000 1.20
+++ test.c 17 Jun 2024 21:22:31 -0000
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ struct t_op {
{"-t", FILTT, UNOP},
{"-z", STREZ, UNOP},
{"-n", STRNZ, UNOP},
- {"-h", FILSYM, UNOP}, /* for backwards compat */
+ {"-h", FILSYM, UNOP},
{"-O", FILUID, UNOP},
{"-G", FILGID, UNOP},
{"-L", FILSYM, UNOP},
----- 8< ----- schnipp ----- >8 ----- 8< ----- schnapp ----- >8 -----
History in OpenBSD ancestry:
OpenBSD:
ksh(1) had both since the beginning, Aug 14, 1996 (pdksh 5.2.7).
Before that, /bin/sh, which was ash, did not have a "test" builtin
at all but used /bin/test instead, which also had both.
csh(1) never had a "test" builtin.
NetBSD:
/bin/test has -h since Feb 19, 1994 ("a la SunOS")
-L since Jun 30, 1994 ("from pdksh")
4.4 BSD (June 1993) and 4.4BSD-Lite2 (June 1995):
/bin/sh (ash) did not have a "test" builtin but used /bin/test instead.
/bin/test had -h but not -L.
Version 7 AT&T UNIX (1979) and 4.3BSD-Reno (June 1990):
/bin/sh (Bourne) did not have a "test" builtin but used /bin/test instead.
/bin/test had neither -h nor -L.
