GNU bug report logs - #36666
Minor bug/inconsistency in ls command

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

From: hoffelmann <at> gmail.com
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: Minor bug/inconsistency in ls command
Date: Mon, 15 Jul 2019 09:01:42 +0200

Hi,

I am using ls from the cureutils 8.31 on arch linux (5.2.0 x86_64) and
think it has a bug/inconsistant in printing an file type indicator (-F) 
while using the long listing format (-l).


If I use `ls -F ~` I get the following output:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Desktop/    Downloads/	Nextcloud/  Pictures/  Templates/  Workspace/
Documents/  Music@	OneDrive/   Public/    Videos/


As the Music directory in ~ is a symbolic link to another folder an @
is appended.


But when using `ls -Fl ~` the output is
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
total 40
drwxr-xr-x  2 rxo users 4096  8. Jul 07:34 Desktop/
drwxr-xr-x  2 rxo users 4096  1. Jun 11:44 Documents/
drwxr-xr-x  5 rxo users 4096 12. Jul 12:04 Downloads/
lrwxrwxrwx  1 rxo users   15  8. Jul 08:07 Music -> OneDrive/Music//
drwxr-xr-x 19 rxo users 4096  9. Jul 15:00 Nextcloud/
drwxr-xr-x  6 rxo users 4096 18. Jun 14:45 OneDrive/
drwxr-xr-x  3 rxo users 4096 11. Jul 13:30 Pictures/
drwxr-xr-x  2 rxo users 4096 10. Jul 16:01 Public/
drwxr-xr-x  2 rxo users 4096 10. Jul 16:01 Templates/
drwxr-xr-x  2 rxo users 4096 10. Jul 16:01 Videos/
drwxr-xr-x 17 rho users 4096 10. Jul 14:58 Workspace/


As you can see the @ symbol is missing and instead there is an
additional "/" appended to the corresponding entry. I think this is
inconsistant and confusing. 

I would expect to see this line:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
lrwxrwxrwx  1 rxo users   15  8. Jul 08:07 Music@ -> OneDrive/Music/


or alternatively:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
lrwxrwxrwx  1 rxo users   15  8. Jul 08:07 Music -> OneDrive/Music/@


but I would prefer the first suggestion.

Message #8 received at 36666 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: L A Walsh <coreutils <at> tlinx.org>
To: hoffelmann <at> gmail.com
Cc: 36666 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#36666: Minor bug/inconsistency in ls command
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2019 01:30:14 -0700

On 2019/07/15 00:01, hoffelmann <at> gmail.com wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I am using ls from the cureutils 8.31 on arch linux (5.2.0 x86_64) and
> think it has a bug/inconsistant in printing an file type indicator (-F) 
> while using the long listing format (-l).
>
>
> If I use `ls -F ~` I get the following output:
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Desktop/    Downloads/	Nextcloud/  Pictures/  Templates/  Workspace/
> Documents/  Music@	OneDrive/   Public/    Videos/
>
>
> As the Music directory in ~ is a symbolic link to another folder an @
> is appended.
>
>
> But when using `ls -Fl ~` the output is
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> lrwxrwxrwx  1 rxo users   15  8. Jul 08:07 Music -> OneDrive/Music//
>   
----
In this case, ls -Fl is showing you the result of the link expansion and
the focus is on the 'target', i.e., the OneDrive/Music.  The classifier
character is being shown only for the target -- not the source of the
symlink.

In a different way, in the top listing the '@' in the 1st ls is telling
you that
Music is a symlink, in the 2nd listing, the '->' tells you that the same
thing,
that Music was(is) a symlink, so the '@' would be superfluous.  Instead,
it puts
a classifier on the target so you know what type it is.

One could think of it as inconsistent -- but only if remembering that
inconsistent options (different options) were given as well.


 

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