From unknown Sat Jun 14 03:51:14 2025 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: MIME-tools 5.509 (Entity 5.509) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 From: bug#48047 <48047@debbugs.gnu.org> To: bug#48047 <48047@debbugs.gnu.org> Subject: Status: provide --dereference Reply-To: bug#48047 <48047@debbugs.gnu.org> Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2025 10:51:14 +0000 retitle 48047 provide --dereference reassign 48047 diffutils submitter 48047 Christoph Anton Mitterer severity 48047 normal thanks From debbugs-submit-bounces@debbugs.gnu.org Mon Apr 26 16:36:39 2021 Received: (at submit) by debbugs.gnu.org; 26 Apr 2021 20:36:39 +0000 Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:47313 helo=debbugs.gnu.org) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1lb7yA-0005eN-P5 for submit@debbugs.gnu.org; Mon, 26 Apr 2021 16:36:38 -0400 Received: from lists.gnu.org ([209.51.188.17]:52706) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1lb7y6-0005eE-FK for submit@debbugs.gnu.org; Mon, 26 Apr 2021 16:36:37 -0400 Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]:38050) by lists.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1lb7y6-0004Pd-7l for bug-diffutils@gnu.org; Mon, 26 Apr 2021 16:36:34 -0400 Received: from crocodile.elm.relay.mailchannels.net ([23.83.212.45]:61892) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1lb7y4-0003BN-Dc for bug-diffutils@gnu.org; Mon, 26 Apr 2021 16:36:33 -0400 X-Sender-Id: instrampxe0y3a|x-authsender|calestyo@scientia.net Received: from relay.mailchannels.net (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by relay.mailchannels.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1D4AE21ABE for ; Mon, 26 Apr 2021 20:36:23 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mailgw-02.dd24.net (100-96-133-91.trex.outbound.svc.cluster.local [100.96.133.91]) (Authenticated sender: instrampxe0y3a) by relay.mailchannels.net (Postfix) with ESMTPA id 00F4021F20 for ; Mon, 26 Apr 2021 20:36:21 +0000 (UTC) X-Sender-Id: instrampxe0y3a|x-authsender|calestyo@scientia.net Received: from mailgw-02.dd24.net (mailgw-02.dd24.net [193.46.215.43]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384) by 100.96.133.91 (trex/6.2.1); Mon, 26 Apr 2021 20:36:22 +0000 X-MC-Relay: Neutral X-MailChannels-SenderId: instrampxe0y3a|x-authsender|calestyo@scientia.net X-MailChannels-Auth-Id: instrampxe0y3a X-Army-Average: 616e2240711478e9_1619469382687_2517580759 X-MC-Loop-Signature: 1619469382687:2950823357 X-MC-Ingress-Time: 1619469382687 Received: from heisenberg.fritz.box (ppp-46-244-246-201.dynamic.mnet-online.de [46.244.246.201]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) (Authenticated sender: calestyo@scientia.net) by smtp.dd24.net (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 1F5045FC25 for ; Mon, 26 Apr 2021 20:36:19 +0000 (UTC) Message-ID: <4c35bcc4ee7839d39ae8d52994a4635356b8efbe.camel@scientia.net> Subject: provide --dereference From: Christoph Anton Mitterer To: bug-diffutils@gnu.org Date: Mon, 26 Apr 2021 22:36:19 +0200 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" User-Agent: Evolution 3.38.3-1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Received-SPF: none client-ip=23.83.212.45; envelope-from=calestyo@scientia.net; helo=crocodile.elm.relay.mailchannels.net X-Spam_score_int: -18 X-Spam_score: -1.9 X-Spam_bar: - X-Spam_report: (-1.9 / 5.0 requ) BAYES_00=-1.9, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE=-0.0001, RCVD_IN_MSPIKE_H2=-0.001, SPF_HELO_NONE=0.001, SPF_NONE=0.001 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no X-Spam_action: no action X-Spam-Score: -2.3 (--) X-Debbugs-Envelope-To: submit X-BeenThere: debbugs-submit@debbugs.gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18 Precedence: list List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: debbugs-submit-bounces@debbugs.gnu.org Sender: "Debbugs-submit" X-Spam-Score: -3.3 (---) Hey. It would be nice if there was a counter option to --no-dereference (i.e. --dereference) that would revert the effect of a previous --no- dereference in the argument list. The idea is, that especially for recursive diffing, it often makes sense to use --no-dereference - yet I guess one wouldn't want to change the default in general to use --no-dereference or even just for -r as this would probably break things. So people may still want to set up e.g. a bash alias like: diff="diff --no-dereference" however, then they have no way (except unaliasing) to get the regular behaviour in an interactive shell. Cheers, Chris.