GNU bug report logs - #75649
dd: report base 1024 for bytes per second

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Message #11 received at 75649 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Chris Ely <chris.ely <at> gmail.com>
To: P <at> draigbrady.com
Cc: 75649 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#75649: dd: report base 1024 for bytes per second
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2025 10:59:34 -0500

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

dd is a file oriented program. Files aren't stored with base 10.

For dd, especially, the default block size is 512 bytes, not 500 bytes. The
most valuable comparison isn't to some network graph you may have showing
base 10 speeds, it's to the written file.

I suppose you could display both speeds, but that line is already long. I'd
much rather not see the base 10 numbers at all without a variable/option
requesting them.

Using base 10 with files is only inviting confusion just like it would be
for memory.

On Tue, Jan 21, 2025, 10:15 Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigbrady.com> wrote:

> On 18/01/2025 14:17, Chris Ely wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > human options would be better if it included base 1024 by default, the
> code
> > can turn that bit off where it doesn't want it (the si transfer status
> > value, should be the only place).
>
> I'm not sure about that.
> Generally data transfer rates (network, usb, disk, ...) are specified in
> SI units,
> so it would be good to be consistent with those for comparison reasons.
>
> cheers,
> Pádraig
>

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

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