Re: RFC: Change pwd to assume -L by default

[Jim Meyering]

On Sun, Jun 29, 2014 at 9:42 AM, Pádraig Brady <address@hidden> wrote:
> POSIX says that `pwd` without options should assume -L is specified.
> pwd is most often invoked as a shell builtin and bash, dash, zsh, ksh
> all follow POSIX and assume that -L is the default.
> However coreutils pwd assumes -P is the default, according to this
> comment in the source:
>
>   "POSIX requires a default of -L, but most scripts expect -P."
>
> I'm not sure that is correct though, since the vast majority
> of scripts would be executing the shell builtin?
>
> Note also that the solaris sh builtin and separate pwd util
> only support -P behavior.

Hi Pádraig,

When I wrote the original pwd.c, the standard was
POSIX 1003.2-1992, and someone had actually sent
me hard copy for Volumes 1 and 2. I've just checked (still have them)
and see it says simply to print "an absolute pathname of the current
working directory", so I made it call xgetcwd and print that.

I think it's fine to make -L the default, now.  As you say, it will make
our version conform to the newer standard and eliminate a small
source of incompatibility between the modern built-ins and exec'd
versions of this command. Any time we make such a change, there
is a risk of causing a script to malfunction, but I think very few scripts
exec pwd, and fewer still would malfunction with this change.

I like the idea.

Jim