Re: Announce: parallel - build and execute command lines from standard input in parallel

[Ole Tange]

On 9/11/07, Leslie P. Polzer <address@hidden> wrote:
>
> Dear Ole,
>
> > I have made a tool called parallel. It combines the best from xargs,
> > find -exec, and cat|sh with the ability to run a number of commands in
> > parallel.
>
> How exactly does it differ from xargs in usage or features?

I have made a section in the man page about exactly that. Let me know
if it is still unclear after reading that.

> Wouldn't it be feasible to augment xargs to support those things?

There are several problems. These are the primary:

* It will change the behaviour of xargs. If you give xargs the input
"foo bar", it will see it as "foo" "bar", where as parallel will see
it as "foo bar" unless you tell it to do otherwise.

* It will not be coded by me, as I will not have time to brush up on
my C-skills to be able to code that.


/Ole