Re: filutils 4.1

[The Wanderer]

Eric Blake wrote:

> fileutils-4.1 is quite old; it has since merged with sh-utils and
> textutils to become coreutils 5.96.
>
> > I modified the source code for ls.c to add a new switch [-Z], which
> > shows the abosulte full path with each item printed.  This has been
> > very useful for me, especially when combined with -1R.  Just
> > wondering if you would like my source updates to ls.c.
>
> Thanks for the idea.  However, the entry bar for adding new options
> to ls is VERY high, especially if it burns another short option
> letter.  You are welcome to post your patch, but unless it adds only
> a long option (you can use aliases or abbreviations to save typing),
> and is against CVS head, which will become coreutils 6.0, it has
> little chance of acceptance upstream.  That said, there is nothing
> stopping you from continuing to use it yourself - after all, that is
> one of the benefits of open source software.
>
> Also, have you looked into the find utility, part of the findutils
> package?  It can already do what you are looking for, which is
> recursively printing filenames with absolute paths.

For the little it's worth, I also find myself wanting to do something
like this from time to time, usually in a context in which find is not a
satisfactory alternative - or, at best, in which it would be awkward and
potentially difficult to construct a find command which would match all
of the desired files and no others. (For that matter, I've just scoured
the man page to find, and I do not see an option to make it print the
absolute path to the file rather than the path relative to the directory
from which find was invoked.)

Only yesterday I was considering submitting a request/proposal for such
an option, along with the possibility of an option to 'always print only
the filename, with no part of the path to the file' (i.e., strip
everything prior to and including the final slash from the full path); I
do not especially care whether the option for either of these would be
short or long, but I would be appreciative if either were eventually
included.

--
      The Wanderer

Warning: Simply because I argue an issue does not mean I agree with any
side of it.

Secrecy is the beginning of tyranny.