Re: [PATCH] md5: accepts a new --threads option

[Jim Meyering]

Giuseppe Scrivano wrote:
> Jim Meyering <address@hidden> writes:
>
>>> What about a new switch to `arch'?
>>
>> Sorry, no.
>> arch is not installed by default, for portability reasons.
>
> Does uname have the same problem?  It already has a "--processor"
> option and IMHO it would be better to get similar information using
> the same tool.

It's similar.  There are enough vendor-supplied variants of uname
that many installers opt not to install the one from coreutils.

> By the way, under GNU/Linux `uname --processor' returns "unknown".  Do
> you think it is a good idea to read this information from "/proc"?

Let's not go there ;-)
This has been proposed and rejected many times over the years.