GNU bug report logs - #37381
[diff] recursive matching: compare symlink targets by default

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

From: Marcel Partap <mpartap <at> gmx.net>
To: bug-diffutils <bug-diffutils <at> gnu.org>
Subject: [diff] recursive matching: compare symlink targets by default
Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2019 17:30:33 +0200

Dear diff devs,
when recursively comparing directory trees that contain unresolvable symlinks, both matching symlinks make diff senselessly emit a "No such file or directory". Wouldn't it be better if diff'ing two perfectly symmetrical dir trees containing the same broken symlinks would produce no output and a 0 return value?

Best Regards,
Marcel

Message #8 received at 37381 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: Marcel Partap <mpartap <at> gmx.net>, 37381 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: [bug-diffutils] bug#37381: [diff] recursive matching: compare
 symlink targets by default
Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2019 08:57:34 -0700

On 9/11/19 8:30 AM, Marcel Partap wrote:
> Dear diff devs,
> when recursively comparing directory trees that contain unresolvable symlinks, both matching symlinks make diff senselessly emit a "No such file or directory". Wouldn't it be better if diff'ing two perfectly symmetrical dir trees containing the same broken symlinks would produce no output and a 0 return value?

Yes, there should be an option to do that, and it should be enabled by default 
(unless POSIXLY_CORRECT is set).

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