From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Mar 15 22:21:02 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 A778F1065671 for ; Sat, 15 Mar 2008 22:21:02 +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 7C88A8FC19 for ; Sat, 15 Mar 2008 22:21:02 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from xistence@0x58.com) Received: (qmail 86379 invoked by uid 0); 15 Mar 2008 22:21:01 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO wideload.network.lan) (xistence@0x58.com@68.228.228.123) by mailexchange.osnn.net with SMTP; 15 Mar 2008 22:21:01 -0000 Message-Id: <432044E0-812E-4C13-A62D-EEA7170DADB9@0x58.com> From: Bert JW Regeer To: Stanislav Sedov In-Reply-To: <20080315135916.GH68662@dracon.ht-systems.ru> Content-Type: multipart/signed; boundary=Apple-Mail-2--320804957; micalg=sha1; protocol="application/pkcs7-signature" Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v919.2) Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2008 15:21:01 -0700 References: <20080314231404.GB99765@scruffy.exit2shell.com> <20080315135916.GH68662@dracon.ht-systems.ru> X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.919.2) X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5 Cc: FreeBSD Hackers , 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: Sat, 15 Mar 2008 22:21:02 -0000 --Apple-Mail-2--320804957 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit On Mar 15, 2008, at 06:59 , Stanislav Sedov wrote: > On Fri, Mar 14, 2008 at 07:14:04PM -0400 Steven Kreuzer mentioned: >> [...] >> >> For reference: >> $ sdiff -v >> sdiff (GNU diffutils) 2.8.7 >> Written by Thomas Lord. >> >> Copyright (C) 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc. >> This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. >> There is NO >> warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR >> PURPOSE. >> >> And my port from OpenBSD: >> $ ./sdiff -v >> sdiff (BSD diffutils) 602111 >> Written by Raymond Lai. >> >> This work has been released into the public domain. >> > > Do we really need to display program version on -v switch? BSD has no > tradition to keep separate program version, it's just a part of an > entire OS. I believe we might just abandone this switch. > > -- > Stanislav Sedov > ST4096-RIPE 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. Programs that don't have a -v or --version switch are frustrating to people who are trying to find a workaround for a bug that is in that program, or when looking at documentation online, when the documentation is for one version and not for a newer version. It is a lot like uname on Linux not displaying what distribution it is running, making it harder to quickly figure out where stuff is located. Dropping -v would be a bad thing, and make the tools not compatible, thus breaking many scripts that do expect a -v. Bert JW Regeer p.s. Sorry Stan about the double email. I replied to your privately first, and then noticed my mistake. --Apple-Mail-2--320804957--