I installed the following documentation change to try to make the
behavior clearer.
2005-11-16 Paul Eggert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
* coreutils.texi (tail invocation): Say that the obsolete form
uses exactly one option and at most one file.
--- coreutils.texi.~1.295.~ 2005-11-16 13:38:10.000000000 -0800
+++ coreutils.texi 2005-11-16 14:40:17.000000000 -0800
@@ -2552,7 +2552,8 @@ Always print file name headers.
For compatibility @command{tail} also supports an obsolete usage
@samp{tail [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED], which is recognized
only if it does not conflict with the usage described
-above. @var{count} is an optional decimal number optionally
+above. This obsolete form uses exactly one option and at most one
+file. In the option, @var{count} is an optional decimal number optionally
followed by a size letter (@samp{b}, @samp{c}, @samp{l}) to mean count
by 512-byte blocks, bytes, or lines, optionally followed by @samp{f}
which has the same meaning as @option{-f}.
_______________________________________________
Bug-coreutils mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-coreutils
