bug#33787: Policy Change: Use of /etc/gnu.conf files to configure default system behavior

[Paul Eggert]

On 12/20/18 2:40 PM, L A Walsh wrote:
> But coreutils already does act differenty based on what
> local libraries it pulls in at runtime.

Of course, and that doesn't affect the point. From coreutils viewpoint 
those libraries are part of the system configuration, just as 
/etc/passwd is, and just as /etc/xattr.conf is.

> Coreutils should service the owner of the system.

Of course, and there's already a way to configure them the way you 
prefer: put wrapper shell scripts in your PATH. And you can simply 
modify the source code to behave the way you like. So you're asking for 
yet another way to configure them. We have to balance the advantages of 
this feature request against the disadvantages. The disadvantages of 
adding a new way to configure coreutils are that it'll slow the programs 
down a bit and that it can cause existing usage to go awry. It's not 
unreasonable to say that these disadvantages outweigh the minor 
advantage of having yet another way to configure them.