Subject: Re: bug#9987: [PATCH] groups,id: add -0, --null option

From: Bernhard Voelker <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 20:46:25 +0200

On 09/18/2013 11:43 AM, Pádraig Brady wrote:
> However we already have this functionality from `id -Gn` so it's not
> worth change `groups` to do this.

Hi Padraig,

thanks for confirming this - using groups(1) is already not enough
portable among platforms.

Regarding the main discussion point, i.e. adding --zero option:
I see the following alternatives:
a) add the -z option only to id.c leaving groups(1) untouched.
b) add the -z option to id.c and groups.c, but don't allow it
   only if no USERNAME argument is given.
c) add the -z option to id.c and groups.c for all cases (including
   the unusual "double NUL" separator between the output for
   consecutive user arguments).

To reduce further incompatibilities, I'd vote for b), i.e. adding
it to groups(1) only for the case where it has to compatible with
"id -Gn".

Other opinions?

Have a nice day,
Berny