GNU bug report logs - #10281
du: hard-links counting with multiple arguments (commit

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From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: Kamil Dudka <kdudka <at> redhat.com>
Cc: 10281 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#10281: change in behavior of du with multiple arguments (commit efe53cc)
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:00:19 -0800

On 12/12/11 04:50, Kamil Dudka wrote:
> Was such a change in behavior intended?  I am asking as I was not able to
> find it documented anywhere.

It was intended, as it provides useful functionality that
can't be done if hard links aren't tracked across arguments,
whereas the reverse isn't true.  It's documented in
<http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#du-invocation>,
which says:

  If two or more hard links point to the same file,
  only one of the hard links is counted. The file
  argument order affects which links are counted,
  and changing the argument order may change the
  numbers that du outputs.

Perhaps this isn't sufficiently clear, and if so,
suggestions for improvements are welcome.

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