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Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:40:34 -0400
From: Steven Kreuzer <skreuzer@exit2shell.com>
To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org, Bert JW Regeer <xistence@0x58.com>,
	Stanislav Sedov <stas@freebsd.org>
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Subject: Re: OpenBSD sdiff Question
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On Sat, Mar 15, 2008 at 11:29:19PM -0700, David O'Brien wrote:
> On Sat, Mar 15, 2008 at 03:21:01PM -0700, Bert JW Regeer wrote:
> > Even if BSD has no tradition to keep a separate program version, it is 
> > still very handy to be able to give this data to other developers if 
> > something is failing.
> 
> $ ident failing-binary is the output that means something.  A version
> string will not.
> 
> 
> > Programs that don't have a -v or --version switch are frustrating to
> 
> Anyone used to working on BSD will not expect a -v switch.  It isn't part
> of BSD tradition.  The simple fact there is no obivous "version" to print
> just shows that in a OS that is developed and built as a whole, having a
> version on the util is meaningless.
> 
> > Dropping -v would be a bad thing, and make the tools not compatible,
> > thus breaking many scripts that do expect a -v.
> 
> Come on, how many scripts do you write that do "sdiff -v" today?

I have to agree with this.

I will submit the port without -v/--version
and worse comes to worse, add it in later if enough people complain.

-- 
Steven Kreuzer
http://www.exit2shell.com/~skreuzer