GNU bug report logs - #33097
test has filetest -a but man page doesn't list it

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From: Bernhard Voelker <mail <at> bernhard-voelker.de>
To: Martin Schulte <gnu <at> schrader-schulte.de>, 33097 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#33097: test has filetest -a but man page doesn't list it
Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2018 00:56:01 +0200

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

On 10/19/18 10:48 PM, Martin Schulte wrote:
> Hello coreutils maintainers,
> 
> test in coreutils 8.30 supports the unary -a test (is the same as -e) but
> this is not listed on the manpage (in bash 4.4.12 "help test" does list
> it).
> 
> I can imagine good reasons to kick out the unary -a but I think it
> then should be kicked out of program and man page (or it should be listed
> in the man page, maybe as deprecated).

Good spot, thanks for the report.

The '-a FILE' primary is supported since "the beginning", and even the
POSIX spec mentions this unlucky thing:

  http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/test.html

  An early proposal used the KornShell -a primary (with the same meaning),
  but this was changed to -e because there were concerns about the high
  probability of humans confusing the -a primary with the -a binary operator.

I don't think we can remove that primary without breaking some scripts,
so it's probably best to document it.
The attached, proposed patch add documentation both in the man and
texinfo format.

Comments?

Have a nice day,
Berny

[0001-doc-document-highly-discouraged-test-a-FILE-primary.patch (text/x-patch, attachment)]

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