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bug#13737: Add -h option to 'users'
From: |
Eric Blake |
Subject: |
bug#13737: Add -h option to 'users' |
Date: |
Mon, 18 Feb 2013 10:21:54 -0700 |
User-agent: |
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:17.0) Gecko/20130110 Thunderbird/17.0.2 |
On 02/18/2013 12:31 AM, anatoly techtonik wrote:
> I don't understand your argument about "unique combination". The main issue
> is that people like me expect -h to work as a --help shortcut. They don't
> have a chance to know "--h" without reading the docs, so --h is not useful.
> And by the way - this --h is not documented.
We HAVE documented it. We document that ALL long options can be
represented by an unambiguous prefix, so --h is an unambiguous prefix of
--help if there are no other long options beginning with h.
> The bar for adding new short options to the utilities is very high.
>>
>
> Sorry, but it is an argument. It will be interesting to know why though.
We are reluctant to burn a short option letter on any utility
standardized by POSIX unless there are other non-GNU implementations
that have also burned the same letter for the same purpose. Prematurely
burning a short option hinders an effort to enhance the standard;
whereas existing practice is a strong argument for implementing
something to make it easier to use GNU as a drop-in replacement that
gives the user freedom over the existing implementation.
> To confirm that argument we'd have to run the poll - if the users expect -h
> to work as --help by default.
Not generally. The GNU coding standards mandate '--help', they do NOT
mandate '-h'. More GNU users are used to '--help' than they are for any
short option name.
I am against adding -h as a short option without a lot more
justification than just a single user, since we have had so few requests
for a short option -h over the years.
--
Eric Blake eblake redhat com +1-919-301-3266
Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org
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- bug#13737: Add -h option to 'users', anatoly techtonik, 2013/02/18
- bug#13737: Add -h option to 'users', Jim Meyering, 2013/02/18
- bug#13737: Add -h option to 'users', Bob Proulx, 2013/02/18
- bug#13737: Add -h option to 'users', anatoly techtonik, 2013/02/18
- bug#13737: Add -h option to 'users', anatoly techtonik, 2013/02/18
- bug#13737: Add -h option to 'users', Eric Blake, 2013/02/18