GNU bug report logs - #17185
diff --help doesn't mention short forms of some options

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From: help-debbugs <at> gnu.org (GNU bug Tracking System)
To: Jay Foad <jay.foad <at> gmail.com>
Subject: bug#17185: closed (Re: [bug-diffutils] bug#17185: diff --help
 doesn't mention short forms of some options)
Date: Sun, 01 May 2016 03:04:02 +0000

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Your bug report

#17185: diff --help doesn't mention short forms of some options

which was filed against the diffutils package, has been closed.

The explanation is attached below, along with your original report.
If you require more details, please reply to 17185 <at> debbugs.gnu.org.

-- 
17185: http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=17185
GNU Bug Tracking System
Contact help-debbugs <at> gnu.org with problems

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From: Jim Meyering <jim <at> meyering.net>
To: Jay Foad <jay.foad <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 17185-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: [bug-diffutils] bug#17185: diff --help doesn't mention short
 forms of some options
Date: Sat, 30 Apr 2016 20:03:13 -0700

tags 17185 notabug
done

On Fri, Apr 4, 2014 at 4:05 AM, Jay Foad <jay.foad <at> gmail.com> wrote:
> $ diff --help | egrep "label|unidirectional|speed"
>       --label LABEL             use LABEL instead of file name
>       --unidirectional-new-file   treat absent first files as empty
>       --speed-large-files  assume large files and many scattered small changes
>
> It would be nice if the help text told me that these options have
> short forms -L, -P and -H respectively.

Thanks for noticing, but I have deliberately undocumented those
short-named options because they are slated to be used differently in
a future release: for link-traversal control, as is already done in
many other tools, e.g., find, cp, du:

$ cp --help|grep -e '-[LHP]'
  -H                           follow command-line symbolic links in SOURCE
  -L, --dereference            always follow symbolic links in SOURCE
  -P, --no-dereference         never follow symbolic links in SOURCE

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From: Jay Foad <jay.foad <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-diffutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: diff --help doesn't mention short forms of some options
Date: Fri, 4 Apr 2014 12:05:21 +0100

$ diff --help | egrep "label|unidirectional|speed"
      --label LABEL             use LABEL instead of file name
      --unidirectional-new-file   treat absent first files as empty
      --speed-large-files  assume large files and many scattered small changes

It would be nice if the help text told me that these options have
short forms -L, -P and -H respectively.

Thanks,
Jay.

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