Subject: bug#58521: human readable still wrong output (after 20+ years?)

From: Paul Eggert <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 2 Jan 2023 13:40:22 -0800

On 2023-01-02 13:22, Chandler Sobel-Sorenson wrote:

>> Unfortunately backward-compatibility concerns are real,
> 
> Such as? 

I imagine lots of programs read the current output format. GNU 'sort' 
does. I haven't investigated all such programs.

The current behavior has been in place since Larry McVoy contributed it 
in 1996. It'd take a pretty strong argument to change it now. Mere 
dislike wouldn't suffice.

> this is about your programs outputting WRONG and INCORRECT values, 
> inconsistent with reality

"Inconsistent with reality" is hyperbole; this is merely disagreement 
about notation.

> All you need to do is add an "i" to -h's prefixes

That would bloat the output and introduce compatibility concerns as 
mentioned above.