path: root/doc/ChangeLog

2004-01-09  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	Document the exit status of each and every program.
	* coreutils.texi (yes invocation): Document that a write error
	makes `yes' exit unsuccessfully.
	(chroot invocation): Enumerate the meaning of exit status values.
	(nice invocation): Likewise.
	(Exit status) [@macro exitstatus]: New macro.
	Use @exitstatus to describe the exit status of most programs.

2004-01-02  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (du invocation): Mention that -H will eventually
	mean not --si, but --dereference-args (-D).

2003-12-20  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (du invocation): Describe new option: -0, --null.

2003-12-03  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	* coreutils.texi (What information is listed, chroot invocation):
	Adjust example 'ls' output to match new behavior with narrower
	output columns.
	(The cut command): Remove example that cut the output of
	'ls -l'.  The output was incorrect even with the old 'ls', and
	the whole idea of using 'cut' on 'ls -l' output is bogus anyway.

2003-11-24  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	Parse floating-point operands and options in the C locale.
	POSIX requires this for printf, and we might as well be
	consistent elsewhere (tail, sleep, seq).

	* coreutils.texi (tail invocation, printf invocation,
	sleep invocation, seq invocation): Document this.

2003-11-24  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (Traversing symlinks, Treating / specially):
	New sections.
	(rm invocation, chown invocation, chmod invocation, chgrp invocation):
	Describe new options, --preserve-root and --no-preserve-root.

2003-11-11  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (chown invocation) [chownchgrpoptions]: New macro
	describing -H, -L, -P options.  Use it here.
	(chgrp invocation): And here.

2003-11-09  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (dd invocation): Fix typo in example.

2003-10-15  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (ln invocation): Note that --directory, -d, -F
	probably won't work even for superuser.  Suggestion from Dan Jacobson.

2003-09-29  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	* coreutils.texi (csplit invocation):
	The regexp offset need not have a sign; POSIX requires support
	for signless offets.

2003-10-03  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (du invocation): Describe -P, --no-dereference.

2003-09-28  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (Translating): Correct typo in menu description.
	From A Costa.

2003-09-02  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	* coreutils.texi (sort invocation): -d now overrides -i.
	"whitespace" -> "blanks"; "whitespace" isn't correct.
	-t '\0' now specifies a NUL tab.

2003-08-17  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (who invocation): Add an entry for -l, --login.
	Remove `-l' from the entry for --lookup.
	(who invocation): Begin adding missing option documentation.

2003-08-07  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	* coreutils.texi (split invocation):
	Add -d or --numeric-suffixes option to 'split'.

2003-07-31  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	* getdate.texi (General date syntax): Add --rfc-2822 option to GNU date.
	* coreutils.texi (Options for date): Fix a typo in format:
	it's now %d not %_d.  Add URLs.

2003-07-31  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	* getdate.texi (Relative items in date strings): Warn about
	fuzz in relative units.

2003-07-29  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (tail invocation): Restore two end-of-sentence words
	that were mistakenly removed on 2002-09-13.  Reported by Paul Worrall.

2003-07-28  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (dd invocation): Explain that a SIGUSR1 signal
	makes dd give a progress report to stderr.

2003-07-24  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	* coreutils.texi: Document changes of 2003-07-24.

2003-07-24  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (su invocation): Use `@subsection', not invalid
	`@heading'.

2003-07-17  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	* coreutils.texi (expr invocation): Exit status is 2 if the
	expression is syntactically invalid, 3 if there is some other error.
	This change is for conformance to POSIX.

2003-07-14  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	* coreutils.texi (uname invocation): Explain the POSIX
	terminology behind uname -m and uname -s.

2003-07-13  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (chown invocation): Warn that chown
	now clears set-user-ID and set-group-ID bits on some systems.
	From Bob Proulx.
	(nohup invocation): Tell what happens when stdout is not a terminal.
	Based on a suggestion from Steven Mocking.

2003-07-10  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (Standards conformance): Mention that uses like
	`tail -1' and `head -1', like `sort +1', are non conforming.
	(chown invocation): Say that using `.' as a separator may not work.

2003-06-25  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (Time directives) [%s]: Add a cross reference
	to the related examples.
	(Examples of date): Add an @anchor here, along with a few more examples.
	Suggestion from Dan Jacobson.

2003-06-12  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (wc invocation): Tweak wording: wc prints counts in
	the order `newline, word, byte'.  Suggestion from Keith M. Briggs.
	Also change `lines' to `newlines'.

2003-05-14  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (head invocation): Document --bytes=-N and --lines=-N.

2003-05-13  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	* coreutils.texi (uniq invocation, squeezing, The uniq command):
	Use "repeated" rather than "duplicate" to describe adjacent
	duplicates; this simplifies the description and makes it more
	consistent with POSIX.
	(uniq invocation): Make it clear that -d and -u suppress the
	output of lines, rather than cause some lines to be output.
	Mention what happens if a line lacks enough fields or characters.

2003-05-13  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (true invocation): Mention that it is possible to
	make true --help or true --version (in non-POSIX mode) exit nonzero.
	Suggestion from Paul Eggert.

2003-05-10  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (Exit status): Remove `uniq' from the list.
	It uses standard exit codes.
	(More details about version sort): Note that strverscmp, and hence
	`ls -v', does not use LC_COLLATE.  Reported by From: Andrey Borzenkov.

2003-04-21  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	Fix printf POSIX compatibility bug reported by Ben Harris in
	<http://mail.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-coreutils/2003-04/msg00070.html>.
	* coreutils.texi (printf invocation): It's \NNN in the format,
	\0NNN in the %b operand.

2003-04-10  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* Makefile.am (check-texinfo): Check for uses of non-zero.
	I prefer to spell it `nonzero'.

	* coreutils.texi (readlink invocation): Tweak description a little.

2003-04-04  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* Makefile.am (constants.texi): Rename target (thus enabling it),
	now that fileutils, textutils, and sh-utils have been merged.
	(MAINTAINERCLEANFILES): Define.

2003-04-02  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (false invocation): Note that false exits
	unsuccessfully even with --help and --version.

	* Makefile.am (check-texinfo): Don't fail if perl is missing.
	Reported by Nelson Beebe.

2003-03-27  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (printf invocation): Fix formatting bugs.
	From Paul Eggert.
	(sort invocation): Describe sort's --stable (-s) option.

2003-03-13  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (shred invocation): Mention that --exact
	is now the default for non-regular files.

2003-03-02  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (Exit status): New section.
	Suggestion from Michael Stone.

2003-02-21  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (du invocation): Document --apparent-size.
	Adjust documentation of --bytes (-b).
	(stat invocation): Describe %B.

2003-02-07  Richard Dawe  <rich@phekda.freeserve.co.uk>

	* coreutils.texi: Use @command instead of @code for program names.

	* perm.texi (Mode Structure): Mention filesystem-specific
	permissions and that mounting a filesystem as read-only may
	override actual file permissions.  Use @command instead
	of @code for program names.

2003-02-06  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi: Adjust alignment and mention `file, text, shell'
	on the `* Coreutils:...' dirently line.  From Karl Berry.

2003-02-05  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* Makefile.am (check-texinfo): Allow bare `POSIX' to be used on
	direntry lines.

	* coreutils.texi: Use new form of @direntry.
	Put unlink in its proper place.  Adjust wording in some
	dir entry descriptions, mainly so they fit in 80 columns.
	Don't use mark-up like @acronym{POSIX} in direntries.
	Mostly from Karl Berry.

2003-01-25  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (cut invocation): Describe new functionality of
	--output-delimiter=STR.

2003-01-24  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (The cut command): Give an example of using cut -c
	with an output delimiter.  From Jan Nieuwenhuizen.

	* coreutils.texi (The cut command): Extend the new example a little.
	(Formatting file timestamps): Fix typo: s/%M:S/%M:%S/.

	* coreutils.texi: Change each use of `Core-utils' to `Coreutils'.
	From Karl Berry.

2003-01-19  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (Which files are listed): Document new option:
	--dereference-command-line-symlink-to-dir.

2003-01-15  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	Change ls -H back to the way it was yesterday, since this is
	compatible with FreeBSD and the POSIX spec is confusing
	and somewhat contradictory.

	* coreutils.texi (Which files are listed, General output
	formatting): Undo last change.

2003-01-15  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (General output formatting): Reflect option name change:
	s/--dereference-command-line/--dereference-command-line-symlink-to-dir/.
	Say that this option changes how ls treats only symlinks to directories
	specified on the command line.

2002-08-27  Dmitry V. Levin  <ldv@altlinux.org>

	* coreutils.texi: Document readlink.

2002-12-14  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (mknod invocation): Specify how major and minor mode
	numbers are interpreted.  Report forwarded by Kristin E Thomas.

2002-11-13  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (Examples of expr): Remove bogus `^'s.
	Reported by Thomas Goerlich.

2002-11-09  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (What information is listed) [--dired]:
	Correct parts of --dired description.  Reported by Andre Spiegel.
	Include a lot more description, with examples.

2002-11-06  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (printf invocation): Fix typo in index:
	change \0x prefix to \x.
	Change \xhhh to \xhh.

2002-10-07  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	Add support for locale-specific size indications (e.g.,
	thousands-separators) and for explicit size suffixes on output.

	* coreutils.texi (Block size): Say that:
	This affects display format as well as block size.
	Fractional block counts are rounded up.
	ls file size blocksize defaults to 1.
	A block size spec preceded by ' generates thousands separators.
	A suffix without a preceding integer generates suffixes.
	(tail invocation): 32k -> 32 KiB.
	(What information is listed): ls -h is now equivalent to
	ls --block-size=human, and ls -H is now equivalent to
	ls --block-size=si.  Displayed file size is now always affected by
	--block-size.

2002-09-13  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (tail invocation): In --sleep-interval=NUMBER,
	NUMBER may now be a floating point number.
	(stat invocation): Remove references to now-removed %S and %C.
	(Time directives) [%S]: Explain why the range is [0..60].

2002-08-30  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi [START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY]: Don't use sc{} on LHS.
	Fix typo: s/permission/permissions/.  From Michail Litvak.

2002-08-02  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	* coreutils.texi (uniq invocation): uniq now obeys LC_COLLATE.

2002-07-29  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	* coreutils.texi (nohup invocation): Change behavior to conform to
	POSIX 1003.1-2001:
	  - Do not adjust scheduling priority.
	  - Redirects stderr to stdout, if stderr is not a terminal.
	  - Exit status is now 126 if command was found but not invoked,
	    127 if nohup failed or if command was not found.

2002-07-24  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (Time directives): Document %P, %R, %e, %F,
	%g, %G, and %V

2002-07-22  Martin Michlmayr  <tbm@cyrius.com>

	* coreutils.texi (Formatting the file names): Document
	that -N/--literal are equivalent to --quoting-style=literal.
	Reported by Oskar Liljeblad as Debian bug#103612.

2002-07-10  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (du invocation): s/PAT/PATTERN/.
	From Martin Michlmayr.

2002-07-08  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (cp invocation): Remove unnecessary "$@" in example;
	Texinfo would render the @" as an umlaut over the following character.
	From Paul Eggert.
	* Makefile.am (check-texinfo): Check for the above.

2002-07-06  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (stat invocation): Remove description of --secure.

2002-07-03  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (stat invocation): Rename --link/-l
	to --dereference/-L.  Rewrite description of --dereference.

2002-06-26  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	* coreutils.texi (Putting the tools together): Don't mention egrep,
	since it's not part of POSIX 1003.1-2001.

2002-06-21  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (stat invocation): New section.  From Michael Meskes.

2002-05-19  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	* coreutils.texi (ls invocation): Document new option: --author.

2002-06-03  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (rm invocation): Add the warning (also in the --help
	output) that the contents of a removed file are often recoverable.

2002-05-27  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* Makefile.am (check-texinfo): Adapt to reflect that now we use
	@acronym{POSIX}.

2002-05-26  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi: Use @acronym in place of most uses of @sc.
	* getdate.texi (Date input formats): Likewise.

2002-04-28  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi: Change `@code{PROG}' to `@command{PROG}'.

2002-04-28  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	* coreutils.texi (kill invocation): Document the above.
	Document POSIX signals better.

2002-04-15  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi: Document kill.
	Written by Marcus Brinkmann.

2002-04-13  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi: Document link and unlink.

2002-04-08  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi: Use new directives, @copying and @insertcopying,
	thus now requiring texinfo-4.2 to create the .info file.

2002-02-26  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	* coreutils.texi (File characteristic tests): Document the
	behavior of test -nt and -ot when one of the files does not exist,
	using the same behavior that is documented in ksh93.

2002-03-05  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	* coreutils.texi (cut invocation): Say that selected input is
	written in the same order that it is read, and is written
	exactly once.

2002-03-03  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	Make cp -r equivalent to cp -R.  Add a new cp option --copy-contents
	for people who want to emulate the traditional (and rarely desirable)
	cp -r behavior.

	* coreutils.texi (cp invocation): Document this.
	Fix some related minor bugs: --no-dereference is no longer
	equivalent to -d, and --archive (-a) can override the other
	symlink options.  Warn that cp -R is not portable on symbolic
	links unless you also specify -P.

2002-03-02  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (cp invocation): Document that cp -r
	preserves symlinks.  Emphasize non-portability of cp -r.

2002-02-27  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	* coreutils.texi (Time directives): Add %N for nanoseconds.
	This documents the recent change to 'ls'.

2002-02-28  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (pr invocation): Reword to avoid using `:'
	in an @opindex entry -- info doesn't permit it.

2002-02-27  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	* coreutils.texi (Formatting file timestamps): Document new
	time-formatting method: --time-style=+FORMAT.

2002-02-18  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	* coreutils.texi (seq invocation): In the example, use "tail
	-n 3", not "tail -3", to conform to POSIX 1003.1-2001.

2002-02-17  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (tsort background): New section.
	From Ian Lance Taylor.
	(tsort invocation): Add a more realistic example.

2002-02-15  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	* coreutils.texi: Document _POSIX2_VERSION.
	(Standards Conformance): New section.

2002-01-24  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY): Remove a few entries
	and clean up a few others based on suggestions from Bob Proulx.

2002-02-14  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	Add support for POSIX 1003.1-2001, which requires removal for
	support of obsolete "+" option syntax in sort, tail, and uniq.
	* coreutils.texi: Document this.  (Also, document a similar
	change to "touch", for fileutils).

2002-01-12  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (shred invocation): List some journaled filesystems.

2001-11-10  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (Date directives): Document %u.

2001-11-07  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	* coreutils.texi (paste invocation): Give examples.
	Thanks to Dan Jacobson for suggesting the examples.

2001-11-05  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (sort invocation): Recommend setting LC_ALL=C,
	not LC_COLLATE=C.  Explain how the latter can cause problems.
	Based on a message from Paul Eggert.
	(ls invocation): Recommend setting LC_ALL=C, not LC_COLLATE=C.

2001-10-21  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (cp invocation): Describe --reply=...

2001-10-17  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (cp invocation): `cp --no-dereference' is
	no longer equivalent to `cp -d'.
	`cp -d' is equivalent to `--no-dereference --preserve=links'.
	cp's -P option means --no-dereference, not --parents.
	Describe new optional argument to --preserve.
	Describe new option: --no-preserve=ATTRIBUTE_LIST.

2001-09-23  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* Makefile.am (check-texinfo): Redirect stderr of `grep -w' to
	/dev/null, so people with old versions of grep don't see the failure.

2001-09-16  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (mv invocation): Describe new option:
	--reply={yes,no,query}.  Fix a few typos.

2001-09-15  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	* coreutils.texi (uniq invocation): The input need not
	be sorted.  Try to clarify -d versus -D versus -u.

2001-09-12  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (tail invocation): Document new option: -F.
	From Herbert Xu.

2001-09-04  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	* coreutils.texi (join invocation): Describe the GNU
	extension to join, which does not require sorted input when
	the input contains no unpairable lines.

2001-09-03  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	* coreutils.texi:
	New 'uname' options -i or --hardware-platform,
	and -o or --operating-system.
	'uname -a' now outputs -i and -o information at the end.
	New uname option --kernel-version is an alias for -v.
	Uname option --release has been renamed to --kernel-release,
	and --sysname has been renamed to --kernel-name;
	the old options will work for a while, but are no longer documented.

2001-08-24  Herbert Xu  <herbert@gondor.apana.org.au>

	* coreutils.texi (cut invocation): Document how cut treats lines
	with no separators.

2001-06-19  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	* coreutils.texi: expr now uses LC_COLLATE for string comparison,
	as per POSIX.

2001-08-25  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi: Use @option, rather than @samp everywhere.

2001-06-21  Paul Eggert  <eggert@twinsun.com>

	* coreutils.texi: 'expr' now requires '+' rather than 'quote'
	to quote tokens.

2001-07-14  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* coreutils.texi (cp invocation): Reflect 2001-07-08 change to
	cp (via copy.c).

2001-06-16  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* Makefile.am (info_TEXINFOS): Reflect renaming: s/omni-/core/.
	* coreutils.texi: Likewise.

	* coreutils.texi: New, renamed from omni-utils.texi.
	* omni-utils.texi: Removed, renamed to coreutils.texi.

	* omni-utils.texi (ls invocation): Mention the effect of locale.
	Reported by Keith Thompson.

2001-05-24  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* texinfo.tex: Update from master source.

	* omni-utils.texi (ls invocation): Document more clearly what ls
	does when given no arguments.

2001-05-21  Jim Meyering  <jim@meyering.net>

	* textutils.texi: Remove file.

	* Makefile.am ($(DVIS), $(INFO_DEPS)): Depend on $(EXTRA_DIST).
	(DISABLED_constants.texi): New rule -- disabled for now.

	This directory is now shared by fileutils, textutils, and sh-utils.