Re: Using --no-name with pipes by default for reproducibility (a patch included)

[Matt McCutchen]

Paul Eggert wrote: 
> On 08/02/10 02:39, Karel Klic wrote:
> > While --name might be useful when compressing a file, I think it should
> > not be enabled by default for pipes
> 
> But the patch you proposed doesn't check for pipes.  It disables saving
> time stamps when no file arguments are given.  This would mean
> that "gzip <file1 >file1.gz" would not record FILE1's time stamp.

Should it?  That example looks to me like gzip is being used as a
filter.  If I wanted it to save file1's timestamp, I would have used the
"gzip file1" form. 

> > The user suggests that --name is less useful than having the possibility
> > of comparing checksums even when compressing a file
> 
> The user can employ "gzip -n" when compressing.  That enables the
> desired behavior, and it works now.

I know that.  I'm wondering if anyone still relies on gzip saving the
metadata by default or it is (as I suspect) a historical relic that is
doing more harm than good.  None of the command-line frontends for newer
compression algorithms (bzip2, xz) do this. 

-- 
Matt