On 09/04/2015 01:30 PM, Robert "Finny" Merrill wrote: > unicasting so it doesn't reopen the bug: [re-adding the list with permission] The bug-tracker is perfectly fine with adding additional comments even to a closed bug; merely replying doesn't reopen a bug report. > > If POSIX says not to recognize "--" doesn't "not recognize" mean it > shouldn't do anything at all? In that case, you're not actually > following it since -- causes different behavior :) You've quoted incomplete context, which changed the meaning. >> http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/echo.html >> >> "The echo utility shall not recognize the "--" argument in the >> manner specified by Guideline 10 of XBD Utility Syntax Guidelines; "--" >> shall be recognized as a string operand." >> >> "Implementations shall not support any options." It's not "shall not be recognized [ever]", but "shall not be recognized in the manner [common to most utilities]. The very next phrase says that it "shall be recognized as a string operand". Or put another way, as a special case for the 'echo' utility, '--' shall be treated the same as any other argument, and always be output literally, rather than being recognized as the special elided end-of-options marker, because 'echo' does not understand options (at least when POSIX rules are in effect). -- Eric Blake eblake redhat com +1-919-301-3266 Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org