Re: Adding FAQ entry: shell built-in (echo/printf/etc.)

[Bob Proulx]

Eric Blake wrote:
> Assaf Gordon wrote:
> > shell builtin functions on do not support --version:
> >     $ printf --version
> >     bash: printf: --: invalid option
> >     printf: usage: printf [-v var] format [arguments]
> 
> Not true for ksh where builtins DO support --help/--version.

Perhaps it should be mentioned that, for the most part, it is bash
that is being spoken about there.  However the error message does
specifically mention bash as the originator of the message.

> Also, a future version of bash may follow suit from current ksh behavior:
> 
> $ ksh -c 'printf --version'
>   version         printf (AT&T Research) 2009-02-02

That makes things easier.  When the caller sees the identification of
where it came from, or if they reproduce it in the bug report, then it
is easy to point to it and say that isn't the coreutils one.

Bob