GNU bug report logs - #52999
29.0.50; [PATCH] `eshell-eval-using-options' should follow POSIX/GNU argument conventions

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From: help-debbugs <at> gnu.org (GNU bug Tracking System)
To: Jim Porter <jporterbugs <at> gmail.com>
Subject: bug#52999: closed (Re: bug#52999: 29.0.50; [PATCH v3]
 `eshell-eval-using-options' should follow POSIX/GNU argument conventions)
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2022 15:01:02 +0000

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Your bug report

#52999: 29.0.50; [PATCH] `eshell-eval-using-options' should follow POSIX/GNU argument conventions

which was filed against the emacs package, has been closed.

The explanation is attached below, along with your original report.
If you require more details, please reply to 52999 <at> debbugs.gnu.org.

-- 
52999: http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=52999
GNU Bug Tracking System
Contact help-debbugs <at> gnu.org with problems

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From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
To: Jim Porter <jporterbugs <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 52999-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#52999: 29.0.50; [PATCH v3] `eshell-eval-using-options' should
 follow POSIX/GNU argument conventions
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2022 17:00:29 +0200

> Cc: 52999 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
> From: Jim Porter <jporterbugs <at> gmail.com>
> Date: Wed, 5 Jan 2022 16:48:39 -0800
> 
> Ok, I updated this to refer to "Built-in commands in Eshell".
> 
> Thanks for looking over the patch.

Thanks, I installed this, and I'm closing the bug.

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From: Jim Porter <jporterbugs <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org
Subject: 29.0.50; [PATCH] `eshell-eval-using-options' should follow POSIX/GNU
 argument conventions
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2022 17:36:06 -0800

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Currently, `eshell-eval-using-options' doesn't follow POSIX/GNU argument 
conventions[1], resulting in some confusing behavior. To see this in 
action, the easiest way is probably to make a small patch to 
`eshell-do-ls' in lisp/eshell/em-ls.el: just comment out the line that says,

  :external "ls"

and then eval the function again. (This is necessary so that eshell 
doesn't fall back to the system's `ls' command when it gets confused.) 
Then open `eshell' and run:

  ls '-I*.el'

Instead of what you'd expect (a directory listing that ignores Emacs 
Lisp files), instead you get a directory listing of *all* the files in 
the long listing format. That's because `eshell-eval-using-options' 
assumes that all the characters after the "-" are names of short 
options, rather than a single short option followed by its value. You 
can see a similar problem with:

  ls '--ignore=*.el'

In this case, `eshell-eval-using-options' looks for an option named 
"ignore=*.el" instead of an option named "ignore" followed by its value.

I've attached a patch with tests to fix this and use the POSIX/GNU 
argument conventions, supporting both the above cases. However, I should 
mention that this is a slightly incompatible change. A small number of 
existing eshell commands work like `ls -I', and their behavior is now a 
bit different. Previously, you could do the following,

  ls -Ia '*.el'

to list all the files in a directory, excluding Emacs Lisp files. Now, 
you have to spell that as:

  ls -aI '*.el'
  # or...
  ls -aI'*.el'

I think that's ok though, since I can't imagine anyone *wanting* the old 
behavior. It surprised me quite a bit when I stumbled across it, and 
worse, it only crops up sometimes, since eshell transparently falls back 
to the real commands when it gets confused.

For completeness, the following commands+options are affected:

  sudo -u
  du -d
  ls -I

[1] https://www.gnu.org/software/libc/manual/html_node/Argument-Syntax.html

[0001-Follow-POSIX-GNU-argument-conventions-for-eshell-eva.patch (text/plain, attachment)]

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