Re: ls -Rd behavior

[Eric Blake]

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According to John Cowan on 8/17/2007 10:35 AM:
> Eric Blake scripsit:
> 
>> Since POSIX states "The use of -d with -R produces unspecified results," 
>> should 
>> we change ls to reject -Rd and -dR as invalid option combinations rather 
>> than 
>> the current behavior of ignoring -R when -d is present?
> 
> Better yet, why not DTRT?

The problem is that TRT isn't defined.  Suppose you have a/b/c, and pwd is
in a.  Should 'ls -dR *' print data on b/c, or stop recursing at b?

Not that I'm opposed to a change in behavior.  But it is much quicker to
code up a patch that rejects the combination, since the current semantics
are confusing, than it is to do a more complicated patch and document how
the two interact.

Compare how coreutils behaves for other tough choices, such as
'mv -t dest -T src'.

- --
Don't work too hard, make some time for fun as well!

Eric Blake             address@hidden
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