Re: "conformance" vs. compatibility

[Paul Jarc]

Jim Meyering <address@hidden> wrote:
> After 10 years of being merely `obsolescent', head -N has finally
> been officially declared to be `obsolete'.

This doesn't respond to Ari's argument, though: given that GNU
utilities already go beyond the standard's requirements by supporting
long options, why not also preserve -n/+n arguments as extensions,
especially since so much existing code relies on them?  AFAICT, the
only defense of long options is that even though they don't follow the
standard, they are useful.  Isn't the same true of -n/+n?


paul