From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Aug 25 16:23:18 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 95FC5106568E; Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:23:18 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from frank@exit.com) Received: from tinker.exit.com (tinker.exit.com [IPv6:2001:470:80f4:0:2e0:81ff:fe2b:acbc]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 43C9B8FC14; Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:23:18 +0000 (UTC) Received: from jill.exit.com (jill.exit.com [IPv6:2001:470:80f4:0:2e0:81ff:fe33:7e9a]) by tinker.exit.com (8.14.3/8.14.3) with ESMTP id n7PGNHm2059508; Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:23:17 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from frank@exit.com) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=simple/simple; d=exit.com; s=tinker; t=1251217397; bh=bCv/y55y7ac1RMo0NOe5F9MrLXrOi3BLNpdVeK/dhuQ=; h=Subject:From:Reply-To:To:Cc:In-Reply-To:References:Content-Type: Content-Transfer-Encoding:Date:Message-Id:Mime-Version; b=mipnlJxI 0rhDylBcaZCPB0KmjtPeSyZXp2YFoRhgLHJ9IF/+6IafQLcwI4PaENb8JHuR0VLopCZ rg6UdoraawS29ooXNsjhP38XhOQmbkKN7u1JdJtgC/rybHGzGNa8lxOCcKf+UjmNz4q Oy0mSvq0o+HuUO3l1uErVdDZfWEE8= Received: from jill.exit.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by jill.exit.com (8.14.3/8.14.2) with ESMTP id n7PGNHHt083340; Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:23:17 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from frank@exit.com) Received: (from frank@localhost) by jill.exit.com (8.14.3/8.14.3/Submit) id n7PGNHWE083339; Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:23:17 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from frank@exit.com) X-Authentication-Warning: jill.exit.com: frank set sender to frank@exit.com using -f From: Frank Mayhar To: Tim Kientzle In-Reply-To: <4A9407D3.60006@freebsd.org> References: <20090825034054.2d57e733@dev.lan.Awfulhak.org> <20090825134447.GM2829@hoeg.nl> <200908251609.09302.j.mckeown@ru.ac.za> <4A9407D3.60006@freebsd.org> Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Organization: Exit Consulting Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:23:15 -0700 Message-Id: <1251217395.83189.1.camel@jill.exit.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Evolution 2.26.3 FreeBSD GNOME Team Port X-Virus-Scanned: ClamAV 0.93.3/9739/Tue Aug 25 06:38:07 2009 on tinker.exit.com X-Virus-Status: Clean Cc: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Deprecating ps(1)s -w switch X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: frank@exit.com List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:23:18 -0000 On Tue, 2009-08-25 at 08:48 -0700, Tim Kientzle wrote: > Jonathan McKeown wrote: > > On Tuesday 25 August 2009 15:44:47 Ed Schouten wrote: > >> * Brian Somers wrote: > >>> I recently closed bin/137647 and had second thoughts after Ivan (the > >>> originator) challenged my reason for closing it. > >>> > >>> The suggestion is that ps's -w switch is a strange artifact that can > >>> be safely deprecated. ps goes to great lengths to implement width > >>> limitations, and any time I've seen people not using -ww has either > >>> been a mistake or doesn't matter. > > The difference between "ps", "ps -w", and "ps -ww" is pretty > significant for Java, in particular. Java command lines > are typically enormous (thank you, CLASSPATH) which makes > "ps -ww" often more annoying than it's worth. > > I concur with another poster that the GNU ps approach for > supporting multiple argument styles deserves consideration. I realized that nobody asked me, but IMHO it ain't broke so don't fix it. I use -w and -ww a lot, and yes, I do distinguish them. Sometimes -w is enough; if it isn't, then I'll use -ww but otherwise I avoid it because it gives just too much output in many cases. -- Frank Mayhar frank@exit.com http://www.exit.com/ http://www.exit.com/blog/frank/ http://www.zazzle.com/fmayhar*