Re: [coreutils] Re: [PATCH 2/2] stat: print timestamps to full resolution

[Eric Blake]

On 10/21/2010 08:09 AM, Andreas Schwab wrote:
> Eric Blake<address@hidden>  writes:
>
> > On 10/21/2010 03:22 AM, Andreas Schwab wrote:
> > > Jim Meyering<address@hidden>   writes:
> > >
> > > > And besides, with coreutils-8.6 already released, reverting the
> > > > change is no longer an option.
> > >
> > > Why?  I'm pretty sure more breakage will pop up over time.
> >
> > How would you propose 'fixing' it?
>
> Add a flag character, eg. %.X.

%.X is no good, since we already support %.1X (that is, all printf() 
flags should keep their existing printf() meaning). But Jim's proposal 
of %:X for extended stat info, especially given how date already 
supports %:z for extended timezone formatting, makes sense to me.  In 
fact, %.3:X might be a nice way to request that the result be displayed 
in milliseconds, although Jim's proof of concept patch didn't cover that 
aspect.

--
Eric Blake   address@hidden    +1-801-349-2682
Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org