From owner-freebsd-hackers  Mon Aug 23  0:19:30 1999
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From: Sheldon Hearn <sheldonh@uunet.co.za>
To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org
Subject: ls(1) options affecting -l long format
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 09:19:20 +0200
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Hi folks,

Chris Costello recently committed (and then backed out at my request) a
change to ls(1) that made -n (numeric ID's instead of names) imply -l
(long format).

The OpenGroup Single UNIX Specification is quite clear on the following
issue: -g, -n and -o all imply -l. Of course, the OpenGroup spec uses -g
for something we don't offer. Our -g is a backward compatibility option.

So my point here relates to -n and -o.

As I mentioned on the PR associated with the addition of the -n
option, taking it to imply -l does nothing but reduce user-interface
flexibility. It prevents me from using this in my .profile

	alias ls='ls -n'

to mean

	"When I ask for a long listing, show numeric ID's instead of
	 names. If I don't ask for a long listing, don't give me one."

As far as I'm concerned, we should _not_ be following the OpenGroup
spec's mandate on this issue. I think that -o and -n should continue to
operate as they do in FreeBSD's and NetBSD's ls, to allow the kind of
flexibility suggested above. Ideally, the OpenGroup spec should change.
:-)

So what's my question? How hard should we be trying to stick to the
OpenGroup spec? Whatever we decide should apply to both -n and -o.

Ciao,
Sheldon.


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