Re: [RFC] fallocate utility

[Bob Proulx]

Tilman Schmidt wrote:
> Why not make it, in the best Unix tradition, a single
> executable whose action depends on the name it is run as?

That can cause problems in various cases.  So much so that it was
written into the GNU Coding Standards to be avoided:

  
http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/User-Interfaces.html#User-Interfaces

  Please don't make the behavior of a utility depend on the name used to
  invoke it.  It is useful sometimes to make a link to a utility with a
  different name, and that should not change what it does.

  Instead, use a run time option or a compilation switch or both to
  select among the alternate behaviors.

Bob