On 06/02/15 17:07, Eric Blake wrote: > On 02/06/2015 09:45 AM, Eric Blake wrote: >> On 02/06/2015 09:23 AM, Pádraig Brady wrote: >>> On 06/02/15 15:57, Tyler Beaver wrote: >>>> I know this tool is probably note used as much anymore, but perhaps it >>>> would be worth adding a flag for overriding the verbose output number >>>> system for the values, or at any rate specifying that this output is in >>>> octal, and not decimal or hexadecimal. >>> >>> Currently: offsets are decimal, differing bytes are octal: >>> >>> $ cmp -l <(echo 12345678abc) <(echo 12345678bbb) >>> 9 141 142 >>> 11 143 142 > > Another observation: Note that when mixed with --ignore-initial, we > behave as if offsets start from the point where we skipped to, rather > than the beginning of the file. Since -i is not required by POSIX, does > this always make the most sense? > > $ cmp -l <(printf bbc) <(printf abd) > 1 142 141 > 3 143 144 > $ cmp -l -i1 <(printf bbc) <(printf abd) > 2 143 144 > > and what happens when we use the two-offset form? > > $ cmp -l -i2:1 <(printf abcd) <(printf bce) > 2 144 145 > $ cmp -l -i1:2 <(printf bce) <(printf abcd) > 2 145 144 > > >> That said, it might be worth patching 'cmp --help' to make it obvious >> that differing bytes are in octal values. > > That is, instead of > > -l, --verbose output byte numbers and differing byte values > > maybe we could use: > > -l, --verbose for each difference, output the decimal > offset and the differing octal values > > Expanding that to two lines can be offset by compressing elsewhere: > > -i, --ignore-initial=SKIP skip first SKIP bytes of both inputs > -i, --ignore-initial=SKIP1:SKIP2 skip first SKIP1 bytes of FILE1 and > first SKIP2 bytes of FILE2 > > feels long; how about: > > -i, --ignore-initial=SKIP[:SKIP2] bypass SKIP bytes of FILE1, and > SKIP2 (default SKIP) bytes of FILE2
Good suggestions, which I've CC'd the the appropriate list ;) cheers, Pádraig.
