GNU bug report logs - #14686
Bug#713022: truncate man and info pages must mention -s / -r mandatory

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Message #10 received at 14686-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
To: jidanni <at> jidanni.org, 713022 <at> bugs.debian.org
Cc: 14686-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#14686: Bug#713022: truncate man and info pages must mention
 -s / -r mandatory
Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 23:37:20 +0100

On 06/21/2013 09:05 PM, jidanni <at> jidanni.org wrote:
> Package: coreutils
> Version: 8.13-3.3
> File: /usr/share/man/man1/truncate.1.gz
> X-debbugs-CC: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
> 
> $ truncate /tmp/erere
> truncate: you must specify either `--size' or `--reference'
> 
> What a shock. Not mentioned on man or info pages!

Well it was immediately obvious what to do given the above output.
Some might consider a pointed message like this,
preferable to having to read the manual initially.

> 
> And
>        truncate OPTION... FILE...
> should be
>        truncate <--size|--ref...> <number> [OPTION...] FILE...

Or more accurately:

 truncate <--size|--reference> <SIZE|FILE> [OPTION...] FILE...

Now some may find the above more confusing to parse.
Also worth noting is the next line in the man page and info manual,
i.e. the first line of the description, should make it quite obvious
a size is required:

  "Shrink or extend the size of each FILE to the specified size"

Also we follow this pattern for other utils like cut(1).

So I'm slightly inclined to leave as is.

> Also mention size is in bytes. Don't just hope the reader will examine
> every options' wording to ferret that out.

Fair enough. I'll adjust to:

  -s, --size=SIZE
          set or adjust the file size by SIZE bytes.  See also --io-blocks

thanks,
Pádraig.

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