Hi, On Wed, Jul 19, 2017 at 09:15:43AM -0500, Eric Blake wrote: > On 07/19/2017 08:29 AM, Nellis, Kenneth wrote: > > From: Steeve McCauley > >> I can't believe I'd never thought of reordering output columns like this. > >> FWIW, I agree that another option should be used to prevent issues with > >> backward compatibility. > >> > >> $ echo 1,2,3,4,5,6 | cut -d, -f3,5,2 > >> 2,3,5 > >> > >> $ echo 1,2,3,4,5,6 | cut -d, -f3,5,2 -o > >> 3,5,2 > > Unfortunately, it takes time to add an option, and then for that > addition to percolate into the pre-built binaries of all the distros > that you use. > [...] > the gap). > Adding a new feature to GNU Coreutils is also easier to do if > you can find someone else (like BSD) that already has the feature - but > to my knowledge, no common 'cut -o' exists in other major distributions.
I have read this reasoning quite often on this list. Does it mean that GNU does not innovate, but it might follow the lead of innovators? I thought one of the goals of GNU was to improve on Unix (https://www.gnu.org/gnu/initial-announcement.html). The announcements states "We will make all improvements that are convenient[...]." Are those times over? Sorry for the flame bait, but I needed to get this out. Thanks, Erik -- Design your product to please the users. -- Paul Graham
