GNU bug report logs - #14617
od - Please add -h option

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

From: Jari Aalto <jari.aalto <at> cante.net>
To: submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: od - Please add -h option
Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2013 11:02:21 +0300

Package: coreutils
Version: 8.20-3
Severity: wishlist

An example:

   $ od -h
   ... hangs

Please add options -h, --help like in other GNU tools to display brief
synopsis and program description.

-- System Information
Debian Release: jessie/sid
  APT Prefers testing
  APT policy: (990, testing) (500, unstable)
Architecture: amd64
Kernel: Linux picasso 3.2.0-4-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.2.41-2 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Locale: LANG=en_DK.UTF-8

-- Versions of packages `coreutils depends on'.
Pre-Depends:
libacl1         2.2.52-1        Access control list shared library
libattr1        1:2.4.47-1      Extended attribute shared library
libc6           2.17-5          Embedded GNU C Library: Shared libraries
libselinux1     2.1.13-2        SELinux runtime shared libraries
Depends:
dpkg            1.16.10         Debian package management system
install-info    5.1.dfsg.1-3    Manage installed documentation in info format

Message #8 received at 14617 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
To: Jari Aalto <jari.aalto <at> cante.net>
Cc: 14617 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#14617: od - Please add -h option
Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2013 09:48:06 +0100

tag 14617 notabug
close 14617
stop

On 06/14/2013 09:02 AM, Jari Aalto wrote:
> Package: coreutils
> Version: 8.20-3
> Severity: wishlist
> 
> An example:
> 
>    $ od -h
>    ... hangs
> 
> Please add options -h, --help like in other GNU tools to display brief
> synopsis and program description.

od accepts the undocumented/obsolescent -h option as an alias for -x
so as to be compatible with older/BSD scripts.

od accepts --help and --h like other coreutils to display help.

thanks,
Pádraig.

Message #15 received at 14617 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: jari.aalto <at> cante.net
To: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>@picasso.cante.net
Cc: 14617 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#14617: od - Please add -h option
Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2013 12:16:54 +0300

On 2013-06-14 09:48, Pádraig Brady wrote:
| tag 14617 notabug
| close 14617
| stop
| 
| od accepts the undocumented/obsolescent -h option as an alias for -x

If the "-h" is not really in core of the current program (obsolete,
undocumented), it would be nice if program could displat this on
STDERR to help users:

    od -h
    Warning: obsolete option, interpreted as -x. Did you mean --help?
    ...

Jari

Message #18 received at 14617 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
To: jari.aalto <at> cante.net
Cc: 14617 <at> debbugs.gnu.org,
 Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>@cante.net
Subject: Re: bug#14617: od - Please add -h option
Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2013 11:07:22 +0100

On 06/14/2013 10:16 AM, jari.aalto <at> cante.net wrote:
> On 2013-06-14 09:48, Pádraig Brady wrote:
> | tag 14617 notabug
> | close 14617
> | stop
> | 
> | od accepts the undocumented/obsolescent -h option as an alias for -x
> 
> If the "-h" is not really in core of the current program (obsolete,
> undocumented), it would be nice if program could displat this on
> STDERR to help users:
> 
>     od -h
>     Warning: obsolete option, interpreted as -x. Did you mean --help?
>     ...

A fair suggestion, though we usually restrict warning messages
to options that are scheduled to be removed in future.
Without this warning, would probably resort to the man page,
when there was no output from -h
Also the intersection of od users that wouldn't know about --help
would be very small I'd guess, so I'm inclined to leave
things as they are now.

thanks,
Pádraig.

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