[comp.std.unix] "long" options for POSIX utilities

randall@Virginia.EDU (Randall Atkinson) (05/28/91)

Submitted-by: randall@Virginia.EDU (Randall Atkinson)

In article <1991May28.010441.13817@uunet.uu.net> ONM07%DMSWWU1A.BITNET@VM1.gatech.edu (Julian F. Reschke) writes:

>I recently heard that future POSIX standards will document `long options'
>similar to those used in the GNU file utilities.

  The above is the first I've heard of such a thing.  The most
recently reviewed drafts of POSIX.2 and POSIX.2a, which cover the
Shell & Utilities area, don't seem to mention any such things.  I
think that you can purchase these drafts, which are still in balloting
last I heard, from the IEEE Standards Office in New Jersey.

  I miss the snitch reports on what is going on and would welcome any
informative (as differentiated from speculative) commentary on the
future plans for the Shell & Utilities effort (or other related TCOS
efforts for that matter :-).

Randall Atkinson
randall@Virginia.EDU

Volume-Number: Volume 23, Number 77

arnold%audiofax.com@mathcs.emory.edu (Arnold Robbins) (05/30/91)

Submitted-by: arnold%audiofax.com@mathcs.emory.edu (Arnold Robbins)

>In article <1991May28.010441.13817@uunet.uu.net> ONM07%DMSWWU1A.BITNET@VM1.gatech.edu (Julian F. Reschke) writes:
>>I recently heard that future POSIX standards will document `long options'
>>similar to those used in the GNU file utilities.

In article <1991May28.072936.26439@uunet.uu.net> randall@Virginia.EDU (Randall Atkinson) writes:
>  The above is the first I've heard of such a thing.  The most
>recently reviewed drafts of POSIX.2 and POSIX.2a, which cover the
>Shell & Utilities area, don't seem to mention any such things.

I can pretty safely say that .2 isn't doing anything like adding gnu-like
long options.  I doubt .2a is either.  The whole thrust of the POSIX effort
is (supposed to be) to standardize existing practice.  So far .1 and .2 have
done OK at it.  E.g., dd retains its current, er, *unusual* command line
syntax. :-)
-- 
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Volume-Number: Volume 23, Number 80