bug#58521: human readable still wrong output (after 20+ years?)

[Chandler Sobel-Sorenson]

Paul Eggert wrote on 1/2/23 1:28 PM:
> Unfortunately backward-compatibility concerns are real,

Such as?


> which means we're not likely to make a big change to -h's behavior at this 
> point. You can use --si instead.

While --si produces correct output, this does not address the subject of this bug, which 
is -h's faulty behavior.  What big change are you thinking of?  All you need to do is add 
an "i" to -h's prefixes.  Optionally and additionally, you could change -h's 
behavior so it outputs the same thing as --si, then create a new flag such as --bi for 
binary prefixes and values.


> Assuming you're talking about 'df' and 'du', neither -h nor --si follows the SI 
> standard, since they both output prefixes without units.

Don't be silly, we all know what the units are, plus it is mentioned in the 
manuals.


> So this is not a question of conforming to any standard.

Never said it was, or maybe I mentioned it, don't remember since it's been so 
long.  Either way, the standard is a guideline to follow, this is about your 
programs outputting WRONG and INCORRECT values, inconsistent with reality.  I'm 
sure I'm not the only one who works with international collaborators involving 
terabytes of data.  After having to spend several days going back and forth 
explaining to them that, yes, we did deliver all the data required by the 
project and, no, there is no data missing, it was imperative to file this 
report, just as it is for your programs to output results that are in 
accordance with reality.