GNU bug report logs - #25407
ls documentation should reflect file system atime setting

Previous Next

Full log

View this message in rfc822 format

From: help-debbugs <at> gnu.org (GNU bug Tracking System)
To: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
Cc: tracker <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#25407: closed (ls documentation should reflect file system
 atime setting)
Date: Mon, 09 Jan 2017 23:19:02 +0000

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

Your message dated Mon, 9 Jan 2017 15:18:32 -0800
with message-id <7464c201-ef9d-9cc4-c8d7-4f1bba5b105e <at> cs.ucla.edu>
and subject line Re: bug#25407: ls documentation should reflect file system atime setting
has caused the debbugs.gnu.org bug report #25407,
regarding ls documentation should reflect file system atime setting
to be marked as done.

(If you believe you have received this mail in error, please contact
help-debbugs <at> gnu.org.)


-- 
25407: http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=25407
GNU Bug Tracking System
Contact help-debbugs <at> gnu.org with problems

[Message part 2 (message/rfc822, inline)]

From: Scott Deerwester <scott.deerwester <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: ls documentation should reflect file system atime setting
Date: Mon, 09 Jan 2017 18:32:18 +0000

[Message part 3 (text/plain, inline)]

The -u option to ls is documented as sorting by and printing the access
time of a file instead of the modification time. This has been the
(correct) behavior for decades. In modern distributions, however, file
systems are routinely mounted with either relatime or noatime replacing
atime, which causes the -u option to fail silently and use either the
modification time (if the file system is mounted with noatime), or an
arbitrary access time (if mounted with relatime). This behavior should be
prominently documented in the man page for ls under the -u option.

[Message part 4 (text/html, inline)]

[Message part 5 (message/rfc822, inline)]

From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: Scott Deerwester <scott.deerwester <at> gmail.com>, 25407-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#25407: ls documentation should reflect file system atime
 setting
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2017 15:18:32 -0800

[Message part 6 (text/plain, inline)]

On 01/09/2017 10:32 AM, Scott Deerwester wrote:
> This behavior should be
> prominently documented in the man page for ls under the -u option.

Thanks for mentioning the issue. Although it's worth documenting I'm not
sure it belongs in the ls man page, which is supposed to be quite terse.
Instead, I documented it in the coreutils manual (which is the primary
documentation for 'ls' anyway) by installing the attached. The first
patch is a minor cleanup, the second the real doc change.

[0001-maint-standardize-on-timestamp-as-per-POSIX.patch (application/x-patch, attachment)]

[0002-doc-cover-file-timestamps-better.patch (application/x-patch, attachment)]

Previous Next

GNU bug tracking system
Copyright (C) 1999 Darren O. Benham, 1997,2003 nCipher Corporation Ltd, 1994-97 Ian Jackson.