GNU bug report logs - #69532
mv's new -x option should be made orthogonal to -t/-T/default

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From: Rob Landley <rob <at> landley.net>
To: Bernhard Voelker <mail <at> bernhard-voelker.de>, Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>, Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
Cc: Petr Malat <oss <at> malat.biz>, 69532 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, util-linux <util-linux <at> vger.kernel.org>, Karel Zak <kzak <at> redhat.com>, Dominique Martinet <asmadeus <at> codewreck.org>
Subject: bug#69532: mv's new -x option should be made orthogonal to -t/-T/default
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2024 19:03:09 -0500

On 3/20/24 14:43, Bernhard Voelker wrote:
> On 3/17/24 07:10, Paul Eggert wrote:
> Now, extending "exchange" to more arguments is confusing and the
> use is not intuitive:
>    mv -v --exchange  a b c d

It's also pointless. An atomic exchange on more than 2 files ISN'T ATOMIC.
That's why I didn't do it.

You already had "mv -T" requiring exactly two arguments, so thinking mv -x has
cooties because it works the same way is just weird.

> I have the gut feeling that we didn't think through all cases,

Sounds like. Having mv modify its source directory during recursive descent is
creepy.

Toybox implemented:

-x	Atomically exchange source/dest (--swap)

Which behaves like:

  $ ./mv -x one two
  $ ./mv -x one two three
  mv: -x needs 2 args

My change from this discussion was adding the "--swap" synonym you wanted.

Rob

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