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@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@ +These are the GNU core utilities. This package is the union of +the GNU fileutils, sh-utils, and textutils packages. + +Most of these programs have significant advantages over their Unix +counterparts, such as greater speed, additional options, and fewer +arbitrary limits. + +The programs that can be built with this package are: + + basename cat chgrp chmod chown chroot cksum comm cp csplit cut date dd + df dir dircolors dirname du echo env expand expr factor false fmt fold + ginstall groups head hostid hostname id join kill link ln logname ls + md5sum mkdir mkfifo mknod mv nice nl nohup od paste pathchk pinky pr + printenv printf ptx pwd rm rmdir seq sha1sum shred sleep sort split + stat stty su sum sync tac tail tee test touch tr true tsort tty uname + unexpand uniq unlink uptime users vdir wc who whoami yes + +See the file NEWS for a list of major changes in the current release. + +See the file INSTALL for compilation and installation instructions. + +These programs are intended to be POSIX.2 compliant (with BSD and other +extensions), like the rest of the GNU system. + +The ls, dir, and vdir commands are all separate executables instead of +one program that checks argv[0] because people often rename these +programs to things like gls, gnuls, l, etc. Renaming a program +file shouldn't affect how it operates, so that people can get the +behavior they want with whatever name they want. + +Special thanks to Paul Eggert, Brian Matthews, Bruce Evans, Karl Berry, +Kaveh Ghazi, and François Pinard for help with debugging and porting +these programs. Many thanks to all of the people who have taken the +time to submit problem reports and fixes. All contributed changes are +attributed in the ChangeLog file. + +And thanks to the following people who have provided accounts for +portability testing on many different types of systems: Bob Proulx, +Christian Robert, François Pinard, Greg McGary, Harlan Stenn, +Joel N. Weber, Mark D. Roth, Matt Schalit, Nelson H. F. Beebe, +Réjean Payette, Sam Tardieu. + +Thanks to Michael Stone for inflicting test releases of the fileutils +on Debian's unstable distribution, and to all the kind folks who used +that distribution and found and reported bugs. + +Note that each man page is now automatically generated from a template +and from the corresponding --help usage message. Patches to the template +files (man/*.x) are welcome. However, the authoritative documentation +is in texinfo form in the doc directory. + +If you run the tests on a SunOS4.1.4 system, expect the ctime-part of +the ls `time-1' test to fail. I believe that is due to a bug in the +way Sun implemented link(2) and chmod(2). + +There are pretty many tests, but nowhere near as many as we need. +Additions and corrections are very welcome. + +If you see a problem that you've already reported, feel free to re-report +it -- it won't bother me to get a reminder. Besides, the more messages +I get regarding a particular problem the sooner it'll be fixed -- +usually. If you sent a complete patch and, after a couple weeks you +haven't received any acknowledgement please ping us. A complete patch +includes a well-written ChangeLog entry, unified (diff -u format) diffs, +an explanation for why the patch is necessary or useful, and if at all +possible, enough information to reproduce whatever problem prompted it. + +If your patch adds a new feature, please try to get some sort of consensus +that it is a worthwhile change. One way to do that is to send mail to +bug-gnu-utils@gnu.org (aka the gnu.utils.bug news group) including as +much description and justification as you can. Based on the feedback +that generates, you may be able to convince us that it's worth adding. + + +WARNING: If you modify files like configure.in, m4/*.m4, aclocal.m4, +or any Makefile.am, then don't be surprised if what gets regenerated no +longer works. To make things work, you'll have to be using appropriate +versions of automake and autoconf. As for what versions are `appropriate', +use the versions of + + * autoconf specified via AC_PREREQ in m4/jm-macros.m4 + * automake specified via AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE in configure.ac + +Usually it's fine to use versions that are newer than those specified. + +These programs all recognize the `--version' option. When reporting +bugs, please include in the subject line both the package name/version +and the name of the program for which you found a problem. + +For general documentation on the coding and usage standards +this distribution follows, see the GNU Coding Standards, +http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards_toc.html. + +Mail suggestions and bug reports for these programs to +the address on the last line of --help output. |