GNU bug report logs - #25259
gnu tools conform to ?? older posix?

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

From: "L. A. Walsh" <coreutils <at> tlinx.org>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: gnu tools conform to ?? older posix?
Date: Sat, 24 Dec 2016 01:39:42 -0800

In the 8.26 NEWS file, I found this paragraph:

 These programs are intended to conform to POSIX (with BSD and other
 extensions), like the rest of the GNU system.  By default they conform
 to older POSIX (1003.2-1992), and therefore support obsolete usages
 like "head -10" and "chown owner.group file".  This default is
 overridden at build-time by ... and in turn can be overridden
 at runtime ...

----

I don't think the above is correct w/r/t "rm" with its previous
functionality removed to enforce compliance with the latest POSIX
(not the 1992 POSIX).

I'm pretty sure that the 1992 version of POSIX didn't override
the historical design and behavior of "rm" by disabling
the "depth-first" removal of files if you specified "DIRNAME/.",
and generating an error message at the end (suppressible with
the "-f" switch).

As GNU utils strive for compliance w/the older POSIX standard,
I would like for rm's functionality to be restored. 

In order to make it more useful, I ask that the --one-file-system
switch have a short-form, "-x", to indicate negation of crossing
file-system boundaries.

Thanks & Cheers!
 :-) Linda

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

From: L A Walsh <coreutils <at> tlinx.org>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#25259: gnu tools conformance issues
Date: Tue, 27 Dec 2016 10:13:36 -0800

L. A. Walsh wrote:
> In the 8.26 NEWS file, I found this paragraph:
>
>  These programs are intended to conform to POSIX (with BSD and other
>  extensions), like the rest of the GNU system.  By default they conform
>  to older POSIX (1003.2-1992), and therefore support obsolete usages
>  like "head -10" and "chown owner.group file".  This default is
>  overridden at build-time by ... and in turn can be overridden
>  at runtime ...
----
   Delving into this a bit more.  I note that the distro
that I use tries to specify the POSIX version for coreutils
by passing flags to 'configure':

 DEFAULT_POSIX2_VERSION=200112 \
 alternative=199209

They are explicitly configuring coreutils to build to a
specific version as documented in the NEWS file. 

I.e. besides individuals who have asked that the older
standards be supported, some distros are, also, running
configure with specific POSIX versions listed. 

Just a guess, but perhaps they don't want unexpected
behaviors to crop up in the coreutil tools that might
necessitate changing an unknown number of other
tools dependent on the old formats/behaviors(?).

Message #13 received at 25259-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: "L. A. Walsh" <coreutils <at> tlinx.org>, 25259-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#25259: gnu tools conform to ?? older posix?
Date: Tue, 27 Dec 2016 15:05:39 -0800

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

L. A. Walsh wrote:
> I don't think the above is correct w/r/t "rm" with its previous
> functionality removed to enforce compliance with the latest POSIX
> (not the 1992 POSIX).

Yes, that part of README is obsolete. I installed the attached to fix that and 
am closing this bug report. Although my impression is that you also want 'rm' to 
be changed, that would be a topic for a different bug report.

[0001-doc-Update-POSIX-part-of-README-Bug-25259.patch (text/x-diff, attachment)]

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