Your message dated Sun, 19 Jan 2020 22:02:44 +0100
with message-id <[email protected]>
and subject line Re: Bug#558044: pkill, pgrep: don't use "-v" for negation;
it's dangerous & some think -v means verbose
has caused the Debian Bug report #558044,
regarding [pkill] don't use "-v" for negation; it's dangerous & some think -v
means verbose
to be marked as done.
This means that you claim that the problem has been dealt with.
If this is not the case it is now your responsibility to reopen the
Bug report if necessary, and/or fix the problem forthwith.
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--
558044: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=558044
Debian Bug Tracking System
Contact [email protected] with problems
--- Begin Message ---
Package: procps
Version: 1:3.2.8-2
Severity: wishlist
X-Debbugs-CC: [email protected];[email protected]
Thank you for maintaining procps.
A suggestion: "killall -v Foo" means "kill process Foo, and print
verbose output". Therefore many users think that "pkill -v Foo" means
the same thing.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] It doesn't. It kills all
processes except Foo. This tends to cause harm.
Please follow the Rule of Least Surprise. Don't allow "-v" to mean
the more destructive of its two possible meanings. Instead, please
rename the "-v" option to some other letter. Not "-i" for "invert":
killall uses "-i" to mean "interactive". And preferably not "-L":
skill uses that to List all possible signals. Use some other letter.
Preferably also make pkill -v print a special error message telling
you the new way to negate your criteria.
Please change pgrep too, so that its option names will match pkill's.
^ [1]. "It's ... good to know that "pkill -v" doesn't give you
verbose output".
--http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/7vkpi/whats_the_worst_mistake_youve_ever_made_at_your/c07j2yv
^ [2]. "Just assuming that a [-v] option stands for --verbose. Yep,
most of the time. But not on a [pkill] command."
--http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/my-10-unix-command-line-mistakes.html#comment-149235
^ [3]. "I used that once to kill all evolution processes on my
machine: 'pkill -v evolution' ... believe me, next time I will read
the man-pages before I try an unknown option :-)."
--http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg62476.html
^ [4]. "Note to self: the '-v' in 'pkill -v $pid' does not mean
--verbose." --http://www.df7cb.de/blog/2007/pkill.html
^ [5]. "It turns out 'pkill -v x' is NOT 'verbose'; rather, it's
'kill all processes except x'. Kind of a bummer!"
--http://twitter.com/kellyterryjones/status/4112024256
^ [6]. "`pkill -v rsync` does NOT mean 'kill all rsync processes and
be verbose about it.' <shame>hangs head</shame>"
--http://twitter.com/mozai/status/5240550425
^ [7]. Many more examples are available if you do a Google search
for [ "pkill -v" ].
--
Jason Spiro: software/web developer, packager, trainer, IT consultant.
I support Linux, UNIX, Windows, and more. Contact me to discuss your needs.
+1 (416) 992-3445 / www.jspiro.com
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
Re: Sami Kerola 2012-02-12
<cag27bk0zs-as9kwynfppq1b-6rfpko+vfrozo+hg5vgr0r1...@mail.gmail.com>
> Hi,
>
> Upstream of the procps-ng adopted removing -v from pkill, while
> keeping it for pgrep. The change allows one to reach the inversion
> logic with long option e.g. 'pkill --invert' but that is not
> documented (while it perhaps should be).
Let's close the bug then.
Christoph
--- End Message ---
