GNU bug report logs - #13902
BUG : Option -k / --kibibytes no longer works with ls

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Sebastien <sebastien.godard <at> orange.fr>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: BUG : Option -k / --kibibytes no longer works with ls
Date: Fri, 08 Mar 2013 09:09:24 +0100

Hi,

This is to tell you that option -k (--kibibytes) no longer works with 
the ls command.

Sample output:

$ ls -l
total 81644
drwxrwxr-x. 23 root root     4096 Dec  3 20:22 linux-3.7-rc8
-rw-rw-r--.  1 seb  seb  83581254 Dec  5 21:26 linux-3.7-rc8.tar.bz2
drwx------.  2 root root    16384 May  9  2012 lost+found

$ ls -lk
total 81644
drwxrwxr-x. 23 root root     4096 Dec  3 20:22 linux-3.7-rc8
-rw-rw-r--.  1 seb  seb  83581254 Dec  5 21:26 linux-3.7-rc8.tar.bz2
drwx------.  2 root root    16384 May  9  2012 lost+found


Tested on: Fedora 18 "Spherical Cow" with ls (GNU coreutils) 8.17.

Regards,
--
Sebastien GODARD
sebastien.godard <at> orange.fr

Message #12 received at 13902-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Eric Blake <eblake <at> redhat.com>
To: Sebastien <sebastien.godard <at> orange.fr>
Cc: 13902-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#13902: BUG : Option -k / --kibibytes no longer works with ls
Date: Fri, 08 Mar 2013 06:06:17 -0700

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

tag 13902 notabug
thanks

On 03/08/2013 01:09 AM, Sebastien wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> This is to tell you that option -k (--kibibytes) no longer works with
> the ls command.

Thanks for the report.  However, according to NEWS, this was a bug fix
of coreutils 8.15:

  ls's -k option no longer affects how ls -l outputs file sizes.
  It now affects only the per-directory block counts written by -l,
  and the sizes written by -s.  This is for compatibility with BSD
  and with POSIX 2008.  Because -k is no longer equivalent to
  --block-size=1KiB, a new long option --kibibyte stands for -k.
  [bug introduced in coreutils-4.5.4]

> 
> Sample output:
> 
> $ ls -l
> total 81644
> drwxrwxr-x. 23 root root     4096 Dec  3 20:22 linux-3.7-rc8
> -rw-rw-r--.  1 seb  seb  83581254 Dec  5 21:26 linux-3.7-rc8.tar.bz2
> drwx------.  2 root root    16384 May  9  2012 lost+found
> 
> $ ls -lk
> total 81644
> drwxrwxr-x. 23 root root     4096 Dec  3 20:22 linux-3.7-rc8
> -rw-rw-r--.  1 seb  seb  83581254 Dec  5 21:26 linux-3.7-rc8.tar.bz2
> drwx------.  2 root root    16384 May  9  2012 lost+found

This is the correct behavior required by POSIX when using 'ls -k'.  You
were relying on an alternate behavior, where it was a bug that -k
exposed the alternate behavior; but that alternate behavior is still
available to you if you use the proper spelling:

ls -l --block-size=k

Therefore, I'm closing this as not a bug.  Feel free to add further
comments or questions.

-- 
Eric Blake   eblake redhat com    +1-919-301-3266
Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org

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