Re: [bug #19363] running any of the sum tools on a filename with gives superfluous in output

[Jim Meyering]

Eric Blake <address@hidden> wrote:
> According to Jim Meyering on 3/21/2007 8:43 AM:
>>>> Do you want to add the feature?
>>
>> Thanks for the quick patch.
>> At first glance, it looks very nice.
>> All it needs is an additional test case or two to exercise it.
>> No rush, though, since I'll put off applying it until after
>> the release.
>
> Can we at least apply a doc patch prior to the release, so that
> coreutils.texi mentions the existing escape sequences for \ and \n?

Yes.  That is long overdue.
I've just made the following change, almost verbatim from your patch:

2007-03-21  Eric Blake  <address@hidden>

        * coreutils.texi (md5sum invocation): Document escapes in output
        format.  Reported by Armijn Hemel.

diff --git a/doc/coreutils.texi b/doc/coreutils.texi
index 7a4cc2d..588147f 100644
--- a/doc/coreutils.texi
+++ b/doc/coreutils.texi
@@ -3203,6 +3203,10 @@ md5sum address@hidden@dots{} address@hidden@dots{}

 For each @var{file}, @samp{md5sum} outputs the MD5 checksum, a flag
 indicating a binary or text input file, and the file name.
+If @var{file} contains a backslash or newline, the
+line is started with a backslash, and each problematic character in
+the file name is escaped with a backslash, making the output
+unambiguous even in the presence of arbitrary file names.
 If @var{file} is omitted or specified as @samp{-}, standard input is read.

 The program accepts the following options.  Also see @ref{Common options}.