13 Mar
2020
13 Mar
'20
4:45 p.m.
Meant for the list (and don't get me started on Reply All)...
-- Dave
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2020 21:43:51 +1100 (EST)
From: Dave Horsfall <dave(a)horsfall.org>
To: Greg 'groggy' Lehey <grog(a)lemis.com>
Subject: Re: [TUHS] Command line options and complexity
On Fri, 13 Mar 2020, Greg 'groggy' Lehey wrote:
It's in "df" as well, praise Cthulu:
aneurin# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Capacity Mounted on
/dev/ad0s1a 496M 302M 154M 66% /
devfs 1.0K 1.0K 0B 100% /dev
tmpfs 1000 272K 999M 0% /tmp
/dev/ad0s1d 2.9G 1.4G 1.2G 54% /usr
/dev/ad0s1e 989M 581M 329M 64% /var
/dev/ad0s1f 3.9G 2.2G 1.4G 62% /home
/dev/ad0s1g 8.9G 8.0G 127M 98% /usr/local
fdescfs 1.0K 1.0K 0B 100% /dev/fd
procfs 4.0K 4.0K 0B 100% /proc
(Memo to self: see where all the room has gone in /usr/local, as that's where I
assigned the leftover space after the other partitions.)
No, I've never liked stuffing everything under the root file system as both the
Mac and Penguin do; fill the root file system and you're hosed (and I also have
an itch about /tmp being there as it's a world-writable directory).
Years ago I wrote a simple script "lss" which did the sort after being
howled down on one of the FreeBSD lists; what a surprise to see "-S"...
Heck, back in my UNSW days I suggested extending stty() to cover non-TTY
devices and got trashed by the AGSM/ElecEng mob; well well, look at ioctl()
when it appeared.
-- Dave
-h is a
gnuism, isn't it?
It might have originated there, but then I would expect it to be spelt
'--produce-human-readable-output'. I haven't been able to establish from
the
FreeBSD sources or commit logs when it was introduced. It would clearly have
been a reimplementation.
https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/ls.html does
specify the -S switch. That's POSIX, isn't it?
So it is! This was the first option that I wanted to add, back when I still
had practice wheels. I asked my mentor, and he said "not the Unix way", so I
let it be. Then Wes Peters came up with the idea, and I thought he committed
it, but it seems that it ultimately came from Kostas Blekos in 2005, based on
the same feature on NetBSD and OpenBSD. I wonder when it made it to POSIX. 
14 Mar
14 Mar
10:35 a.m.
New subject: Command line options and complexity
On Friday, 13 March 2020 at 21:45:21 +1100, Dave Horsfall wrote:
On Fri, 13 Mar 2020, Greg 'groggy' Lehey
wrote:
It's in "df" as well, praise Cthulu:
aneurin# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Capacity Mounted on
/dev/ad0s1a 496M 302M 154M 66% /
/dev/ad0s1d 2.9G 1.4G 1.2G 54% /usr
/dev/ad0s1e 989M 581M 329M 64% /var
...
It also has the , option:
=== grog@eureka (/dev/pts/72) ~ 8 -> df -,
Filesystem 1048576-blocks Used Avail Capacity Mounted on
/dev/ada0p4 39,662 21,918 14,571 60% /
/dev/ada0p2 39,662 13,447 23,042 37% /destdir
/dev/ada0p5 3,705,520 1,831,345 1,577,733 54% /home
/dev/ada1p1 7,629,565 6,358,607 1,194,661 84% /Photos
I find it much easier to see the relative size like that.
Greg
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-h is a
gnuism, isn't it?
It might have originated there, but then I would expect it to be spelt
'--produce-human-readable-output'. I haven't been able to establish from
the
FreeBSD sources or commit logs when it was introduced. It would clearly have
been a reimplementation. 
15 Mar
15 Mar
1:52 a.m.
New subject: Command line options and complexity
Here's a command I wrote long ago using a different way to deal with
options:
*isee*
Usage: isee format file ...
Display specified inode information for files passed as arguments.
Items of the form ``%X'' in format will be replaced for these X:
dev inode ino mode nlink uid gid rdev size atime
mtime ctime now filename
Parenthesized printf-style format specifications can follow a %
to override the default format for the various items.
%filename is the name of the current file argument.
%now is the time (in seconds) when the command started running.
The other items are from the stat structure.
Example: isee "%(40s)filename: %mtime %mode" /dev/null
Show file modification time and mode of /dev/null
inode is just a synonym for ino.
Instead of a kazillion options, the %-stat-field items identify *what* you
want to see and the printf-style formats identify *how* you want them
shown. Someone in the Murray Hill library added strftime formats for date
fields, a fine addition, in my view. Adding readable user and group names
rather than numerical ids would be worth considering. *Maybe* having a
"rwx"-style form for mode. Sorting can be done by piping the output through
sort. Don't get hung up on shortcomings of the command, just consider how a
few familiar concepts and pipes can be combined to provide a large number
of options.
On Sat, Mar 14, 2020 at 12:35 AM Greg 'groggy' Lehey <grog(a)lemis.com>
wrote:
On Friday, 13 March 2020 at 21:45:21 +1100, Dave
Horsfall wrote:
...
It also has the , option:
=== grog@eureka (/dev/pts/72) ~ 8 -> df -,
Filesystem 1048576-blocks Used Avail Capacity Mounted on
/dev/ada0p4 39,662 21,918 14,571 60% /
/dev/ada0p2 39,662 13,447 23,042 37% /destdir
/dev/ada0p5 3,705,520 1,831,345 1,577,733 54% /home
/dev/ada1p1 7,629,565 6,358,607 1,194,661 84% /Photos
I find it much easier to see the relative size like that.
Greg
--
Sent from my desktop computer.
Finger grog(a)lemis.com for PGP public key.
See complete headers for address and phone numbers.
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On Fri, 13 Mar 2020, Greg 'groggy'
Lehey wrote:
>> -h is a gnuism, isn't it?
>
> It might have originated there, but then I would expect it to be spelt
> '--produce-human-readable-output'. I haven't been able to establish
from the
> FreeBSD sources or commit logs when it was
introduced. It would
clearly have
been a
reimplementation.
It's in "df" as well, praise Cthulu:
aneurin# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Capacity Mounted on
/dev/ad0s1a 496M 302M 154M 66% /
/dev/ad0s1d 2.9G 1.4G 1.2G 54% /usr
/dev/ad0s1e 989M 581M 329M 64% /var 
2:25 a.m.
New subject: Command line options and complexity
John P. Linderman wrote in
<CAC0cEp-dL2iPikiGvaQ_s9_6AS=mFO4RvbT423fNJ3gQiLdthQ(a)mail.gmail.com>:
|Here's a command I wrote long ago using a different way to deal with \
|options:
|
| isee
|Usage: isee format file ...
| Display specified inode information for files passed as arguments.
| Items of the form ``%X'' in format will be replaced for these X:
|dev inode ino mode nlink uid gid rdev size atime
|mtime ctime now filename
| Parenthesized printf-style format specifications can follow a %
| to override the default format for the various items.
| %filename is the name of the current file argument.
| %now is the time (in seconds) when the command started running.
| The other items are from the stat structure.
|
| Example: isee "%(40s)filename: %mtime %mode" /dev/null
| Show file modification time and mode of /dev/null
|
|inode is just a synonym for ino.
|
|Instead of a kazillion options, the %-stat-field items identify what \
|you want to see and the printf-style formats identify how you want \
|them shown. Someone in the Murray Hill library added strftime
|formats for date fields, a fine addition, in my view. Adding readable \
|user and group names rather than numerical ids would be worth considering. \
|Maybe having a "rwx"-style form for mode. Sorting can be
|done by piping the output through sort. Don't get hung up on shortcomings \
|of the command, just consider how a few familiar concepts and pipes \
|can be combined to provide a large number of options.
When i switched to FreeBSD around 2001, the handbook was on the
CDs i had, and i stumbled upon a very impressive assembler
example. It is still there[1], at least in parts(?). Coming from
C64, then DOS/4DOS and <2 years Linux, aka kid games,
grey-industry, MS and xeyes background, i read
[1] https://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/developers-handbook/x86-f…
Personally, I like to keep it simple. Something either is
a number, so I process it. Or it is not a number, so I discard
it. I do not like the computer complaining about me typing in an
extra character when it is obvious that it is an extra
character. Duh!
Plus, it allows me to break up the monotony of computing and
type in a query instead of just a number:
What is the best pinhole diameter for the
focal length of 150?
There is no reason for the computer to spit out a number of complaints:
Syntax error: What
Syntax error: is
Syntax error: the
Syntax error: best
Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Secondly, I like the # character to denote the start of
a comment which extends to the end of the line. This does not
take too much effort to code, and lets me treat input files for
my software as executable scripts.
and it was like being warped from Chaplin's Modern Times to a rich
man's California style living! And that in assembler!!
% pinhole
Computer,
What size pinhole do I need for the focal length of 150?
150 490 306 362 2930 12
Hmmm... How about 160?
160 506 316 362 3125 12
Let's make it 155, please.
155 498 311 362 3027 12
Ah, let's try 157...
157 501 313 362 3066 12
156?
156 500 312 362 3047 12
That's it! Perfect! Thank you very much!
^D
Nonetheless: i never managed to create Hippie-proof programs in
real life.
--steffen
|
|Der Kragenbaer, The moon bear,
|der holt sich munter he cheerfully and one by one
|einen nach dem anderen runter wa.ks himself off
|(By Robert Gernhardt)
1744
days inactive
1745
days old
3 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
-
Dave Horsfall -
Greg 'groggy' Lehey -
John P. Linderman -
Steffen Nurpmeso