Re: [Fwd: cat: invalid option -- h]

[Eric Blake]

> 
> My point is for consistency, it is unclear what the strategy is with -h 
> in GNU tools, perhaps only a partial idea to use -h for help in some tools.
> 
> -h has ended up being used for other purposes than help in GNU tools.
> The fact remains that -h is often used for help in GNU tools, but not in
> all cases.  So I think GNU tools should be consistant, be that in having
> a -h option for help, or not using -h option for help in some GNU tools.

There are some tools where POSIX requires that -h stand for something
that is not --help, so consistency argues that `--help' be the choice for
all GNU tools to support.

> 
> If the strategy is actually to only have --help, perhaps GNU should
> define that somehwere, as obviously at present many GNU tools are
> supporting the -h option for help.

Then you haven't read section 4.6 of the GNU Coding Standards, that
do just that:
http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/Command_002dLine-Interfaces.html
Also, section 4.7 mentions common long options, and their short
option equivalents where appropriate, and neither --help nor
--version are given a short option listing in the GCS.

--
Eric Blake