tags 8231 + notabug thanks Paul Eggert wrote: > On 03/11/2011 03:14 PM, Alan Curry wrote: >> tail -N of multiple files used to work with GNU tail, before someone >> broke it > > I checked in that change, and it was to make "tail" compatible with > both older BSD practice and with POSIX 1002.1-2001. Any > further changes in this area should retain compatibility with older > BSD and with POSIX. It's not as easy as it looks, I'm afraid. > > A simple workaround (much simpler than trying to modify "tail" :-) > is to use "tail -n10 A B" instead of "tail -10 A B".
This issue was beaten to death about 6 months ago. I conclude that there was no official "bug" (at least no contravention of POSIX), and that no one is planning to change this aspect of tail's behavior. So I've closed it.
