Re: w(1), who(1), last(1) and unix philosophy

[David Both]

Actually, quite the opposite.

"Make each program do one thing well," Mike Gancarz, "Linux and the Unix 
Philosophy," Digital Press. Others say it in this form: "Each program 
should do one thing and do it well."

These programs are only similar on the surface. If we look at the man 
pages and then try some of the options, we find that who(1) has some 
interesting capabilities that are not present in that of w(1) or 
last(1). I find each of these useful as they are and would prefer not to 
see all of their functions, options, and output formats mashed into a 
single larger program.

I suggest you explore each of these in some detail to understand the 
differences and the simplicity of each. Simplicity is elegance.


On 07/03/2018 01:48 PM, kalle wrote:
> hello.
> with this mail I address e-mail-adresses related to the projects GNU
> coreutils, util-linux and procps.
>
> it seems to me, that the programs who(1) [belonging to GNU coreutils], w
> (1) [belonging to procps] and maybe also last(1) [belonging to
> util-linux] are giving out similar output.
> Wouldn't it make sense in the spirit of UNIX philosophy to have only one
> specialized command with the different capabilities included ??
>
> greetings,
> kalle

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David P. Both, RHCE
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David P. Both
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