bug#10281: change in behavior of du with multiple arguments (commit efe53cc)

[Paul Eggert]

On 02/18/2013 11:09 PM, Elliott Forney wrote:
> There is no question in my mind about recounting
> multiple links (not recounting links is the historical behavior if for
> no other reason).

Unfortunately if memory serves that's not the case either.
In non-GNU implementations, multiple links are sometimes counted
and sometimes not.  If you run 'du a b' and a/f and b/f
are hard links, they might be counted twice, and might not be -- it
depends on the implementation.

The area is indeed a mess and no matter what GNU du does it will
disagree with somebody.

It might be reasonable to add an option to GNU du to have it mimic
the behavior you prefer, if we can nail down exactly what that is.