From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Mar 17 18:56:18 2008 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 0AAFB106566C for ; Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:56:18 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from xistence@0x58.com) Received: from mailexchange.osnn.net (1e.66.5646.static.theplanet.com [70.86.102.30]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with SMTP id C44E38FC26 for ; Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:56:17 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from xistence@0x58.com) Received: (qmail 79959 invoked by uid 0); 17 Mar 2008 18:56:16 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO wideload.network.lan) (xistence@0x58.com@68.228.228.123) by mailexchange.osnn.net with SMTP; 17 Mar 2008 18:56:16 -0000 Message-Id: From: Bert JW Regeer To: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.org In-Reply-To: <20080316062919.GB88526@dragon.NUXI.org> Content-Type: multipart/signed; boundary=Apple-Mail-8--160290215; micalg=sha1; protocol="application/pkcs7-signature" Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v919.2) Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:56:16 -0700 References: <20080314231404.GB99765@scruffy.exit2shell.com> <20080315135916.GH68662@dracon.ht-systems.ru> <432044E0-812E-4C13-A62D-EEA7170DADB9@0x58.com> <20080316062919.GB88526@dragon.NUXI.org> X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.919.2) X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5 Cc: Stanislav Sedov , Steven Kreuzer Subject: Re: OpenBSD sdiff Question X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:56:18 -0000 --Apple-Mail-8--160290215 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit On Mar 15, 2008, at 23:29 , 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? > > -- > -- David (obrien@FreeBSD.org) > I see the reasoning behind dropping it now. It certainly make sense as you and Peter Jeremy describe it, I have just never thought of it that way. Cheers, Bert JW Regeer --Apple-Mail-8--160290215--