/bin/ls vs .dotted files

[Dan Cross]

On Sun, Sep 16, 2012 at 1:14 AM, Peter Avalos <peter at theshell.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Sep 15, 2012 at 08:39:48PM +0530, Dan Cross wrote:
>> If you are going to make a change, I suggest adding a '-I' and making
>> the default -A for *all* users.  Perhaps if people saw how much the
>> applications they install are littering their directory namespaces,
>> pressure would build to come up with a more sensible convention to
>> handle configuration.  Having an arbitrary class of files that are not
>> displayed by default is non-intuitive and just weird.
>>
> The standard says, "Filenames beginning with a <period> ( '.' ) and any
> associated information shall not be written out unless explicitly
> referenced, the -A or -a option is supplied, or an
> implementation-defined condition causes them to be written."  We're not
> going to violate this by turning on -A for everyone.

Fair enough, but a pedantic nit: "an implementation-defined condition"
could be a declaration that that's how your version of ls works.
That's what other systems have done.

> As far as making root act the same way as everyone else, I'm fine with
> that.  If we do that, I recommend removing the -I option that was just
> added.

This all seems rather making a mountain out of a molehill.  Is there
really any pressing need to change anything?

        - Dan C.