Re: GNU/Linux Naming

[Brian]

On  7 Dec 2007 at 14:15, David Kastrup wrote:
> Apart from which:
>
> Usage: cat [OPTION] [FILE]...
> Concatenate FILE(s), or standard input, to standard output.
>
>   -A, --show-all           equivalent to -vET
>   -b, --number-nonblank    number nonblank output lines
>   -e                       equivalent to -vE
>   -E, --show-ends          display $ at end of each line
>   -n, --number             number all output lines
>   -s, --squeeze-blank      never more than one single blank line
>   -t                       equivalent to -vT
>   -T, --show-tabs          display TAB characters as ^I
>   -u                       (ignored)
>   -v, --show-nonprinting   use ^ and M- notation, except for LFD and TAB
>       --help     display this help and exit
>       --version  output version information and exit
>
> With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.
>
>
> Which is also not all of trivial when compared to some kernel
> functionality.  I mean, take the "fork" system call.  Before all that
> copy-on-write nonsense was invented, it just consisted of swapping out a
> process without actually terminating the in-memory copy.  A UNIX kernel
> fit into something like 16kB or so on a PDP-11.

Some might consider the fact that GNU turns trivial utilities into
bloatware is a bug rather than a feature. How often do you think those
dozen command-line options to cat are actually used?