Path: csiph.com!3.us.feeder.erje.net!feeder.erje.net!news.linkpendium.com!news.linkpendium.com!panix!usenet.stanford.edu!not-for-mail From: Robert Elz Newsgroups: gnu.bash.bug Subject: Re: Wrong command option in the manual examples Date: Mon, 23 Sep 2019 21:02:47 +0700 Lines: 40 Approved: bug-bash@gnu.org Message-ID: References: <59cf49b0-1292-b752-4fe8-8928fd558ebf@iki.fi> <38052651-6d67-6107-660c-707ca39ee00c@case.edu> <23726.1569247367@jinx.noi.kre.to> NNTP-Posting-Host: lists.gnu.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: usenet.stanford.edu 1569248191 27313 209.51.188.17 (23 Sep 2019 14:16:31 GMT) X-Complaints-To: action@cs.stanford.edu Cc: chet.ramey@case.edu, hk , bug-bash@gnu.org To: Ilkka Virta Envelope-to: bug-bash@gnu.org In-Reply-To: <59cf49b0-1292-b752-4fe8-8928fd558ebf@iki.fi> X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 3.x [generic] X-Received-From: 2001:3c8:9009:181::2 X-BeenThere: bug-bash@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.23 Precedence: list List-Id: Bug reports for the GNU Bourne Again SHell List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-Mailman-Original-Message-ID: <23726.1569247367@jinx.noi.kre.to> X-Mailman-Original-References: <59cf49b0-1292-b752-4fe8-8928fd558ebf@iki.fi> <38052651-6d67-6107-660c-707ca39ee00c@case.edu> Xref: csiph.com gnu.bash.bug:15412 Date: Mon, 23 Sep 2019 12:29:18 +0300 From: Ilkka Virta Message-ID: <59cf49b0-1292-b752-4fe8-8928fd558ebf@iki.fi> | (as well the standard '-depth', somewhat confusingly) There is no real standard for this - NetBSD has deprecated the -depth operator (which never really was one) and replaced it by a -d option which makes much more sense (-depth never really was the right way to do it). -depth (the old way) is still supported for compat with old scripts, but is only mentioned in doc in the STANDARDS section, as: Historically, the -d, -h, and -x options were implemented using the primaries "-depth", "-follow", and "-xdev". These primaries always evaluated to true, and always took effect when the expression was parsed, before the file system traversal began. As a result, some legal expressions could be confusing. For example, in the expression "-print -or -depth", -print always evaluates to true, so the standard meaning of -or implies that -depth would never be evaluated, but that is not what happens; in fact, -depth takes effect immediately, without testing whether -print returns true or false. What I think is the purpose of poor choice of an option, the FreeBSD -depth N is done using -maxdepth and -mindepth in combination (using the same value). (That is, to select a depth of exactly N, one requests a depth of no less than N and no more than N (where N, if signed, has the usual meaning, of course). Either way (as "-depth N", or "-mindepth N -maxdepth N") this is an operator that applies to each path element encountered, so makes sense to have as an element of the find expression (unlike the old -depth which does not.) I'd strongly suggest not using examples of anything using "-depth" - choose some other example instead. kre